The Ghost on the Porch
by sunbune
Summary: When Kaoru finds a ghost on her porch, Kenshin is surprised. Sano is terrified, Megumi is curious, Yahiko is fascinated. And then Kaoru invites him in for dinner.
1. Chapter 1: the definition of a ghost

The Ghost on the Porch

Chapter 1: The definition of a ghost

* * *

Kamiya Kaoru returned home one evening from teaching at another dojo and found the hitokiri Battousai sitting on her porch.

At first she thought it was just a dejected-looking Kenshin, sitting slumped against the wall with his sword propped against his shoulder and his head tipped forward.

"Kenshin!" she exclaimed in greeting, and was both aggravated and alarmed to receive no response. Then she noticed his navy-blue gi, the wrist guards on his hands, and the unfamiliar position of the ponytail, way too high on the back of his head. She swallowed, eyes wide. If this wasn't Kenshin, then who...?

Drawing the shinai that had been slung across her back, she marched up to him. "Hello?" she asked, scowling. "Excuse me. I'm the assistant master of this dojo. Can I help you?" Even as she spoke she realized she knew who he was. It _was_ Kenshin, but it wasn't. The face was younger, the body tighter, slightly more compact. And his left cheek was blank, smooth and white as paper.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Kaoru knew that this was all impossible. Battousai couldn't be here, not with Kenshin probably right inside, making dinner in the kitchen. Scrunching up her face in determination, she swept past the hunched figure and into the house.

"I'm home," she announced loudly.

"Welcome back," Kenshin's voice replied, which caused Kaoru's eyes a brief flutter of relief. "Dinner is almost ready. Yahiko, Sanosuke and Megumi-dono are here as well."

"Oh good," Kaoru said, entering the kitchen and setting down the satchel that contained her kendo armor. "Then maybe they can help you get your ghost off the porch."

She said it as if asking him to bring in the laundry or reminding him to close a door he'd left open somewhere. Yahiko reacted with severe disbelief, and Kenshin paused, looking confused.

"Ghost?" Sano asked gruffly, stealing a rice ball and ignoring Megumi's attempt to swat his hand in punishment. "Did you say ghost?"

"That's what I said," Kaoru confirmed, frowning. "Go take a look for yourself. Blue gi, no scar, red hair up like this-" she raised both hands to her own ponytail and tugged the sides near the base, tightening it and emphasizing its location on her head. "-If it's not Kenshin's ghost then I don't know what it is."

"You're talking nonsense, Jou-chan," Sano said with his mouth full of rice. "Kenshin's still alive. He can't have a ghost."

Kenshin sighed. "Let's go see," he offered, and led the way back out. Exactly when he reached visual range of his former self, he froze, and exactly as Kaoru had expected, he looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"No way!" Yahiko's eyes bulged. "Kenshin, is that really you? Like, from back then?"

Megumi covered her mouth with her hand.

"What the hell kind of trick is this?" Sano demanded, instantly furious.

"See? Now do you believe me?" Kaoru asked. She put her hands on her hips. "I got home from teaching and he was just sitting here!"

"This is bad!" Sano's voice rose in volume, expressing terror. "Is it magic? Demons? Sorcery? Are we dead?"

"Calm down," Megumi ordered. "Magic isn't real and none of us are dead. Right, Ken-san?"

Kenshin blinked a few times, looking back and forth at the faces of his friends. "I don't know," he answered at last.

Sano clenched his teeth and his fists, and glared at the silent figure. "Oi! You, kid! Fake Kenshin! Who the hell are you?"

Battousai didn't respond, which Sano took as an insult, and decided to answer with fearful violence.  
He growled and drew back his fist, which Kenshin grabbed hold of just in time.

"Wait Sano! Don't attack. It might be dangerous."

"What are we going to do?" Yahiko asked in fascination.

"Mou," Kaoru pouted, annoyed. "Well we can't just leave him on the porch all night. Ahem." She stepped around Kenshin and Sano and bent forward at the waist, addressing the little hitokiri. "Excuse me. Battousai-san. If you're staying the night you should come inside."

"Are you crazy?!" Sano gasped, and then jumped backwards as the ghost stood up.

Slowly, almost unconsciously, the ghost tucked his katana into his belt, nodded faintly to Kaoru, and proceeded into the house.

Everyone on the porch let out a breath.

"Wow. Okay, Wow," Sano said. "This is way too creepy and weird for me. I must have eaten some seriously messed up mushrooms today. I'm out." He headed for the gate. "Megumi, you coming?"

"I'll stay," Megumi said thoughtfully, looking at Kaoru. "If that's all right? This is interesting."

Kaoru shrugged. "Stay as long as you like," she offered. "Help us figure out if our guest is flesh and blood or not."

"You're being really chill about this," Yahiko commented, eyes narrowing at his kendo instructor in suspicion. "Doesn't it freak you out that the hitokiri Battousai is in your house?"

"Not really." Kaoru smiled. "He's lived here for a whole year already, after all."

Kenshin looked worried. "But, Kaoru-dono, he's... it doesn't make sense for him to be here as a completely different person."

"Yeah, no kidding!" Yahiko agreed. "Kaoru, you're crazy!"

"Actually, I'm hungry," Kaoru declared. "Let's eat before it gets cold."

* * *

Just inside the doorway, Battousai was standing quietly, as if waiting to be told where to go next. He glanced at Kaoru, eyes completely listless, yet the fact that he seemed to acknowledge her presence at all made Kenshin's skin prickle. "This way," Kaoru said, and the ghost followed her. She indicated a place on the tatami. "Sit."

Wordlessly, he pulled his katana from his belt again and sat, placing the weapon on the floor beside him.

Kaoru looked around at the other members of her family. "Ah, Everyone? Dinner," she reminded them, and they trouped to the kitchen, returning with food. Once they had all settled into their usual places, Kaoru set a bowl of rice in front of her new guest. "Your hand," she directed, and obediently he held it out. Kaoru pressed a pair of chopsticks into his palm, and he mumbled something faintly in response.

His voice—it was _his_ voice, soft and barely audible, but there was no mistake.

"You sound so much younger," Kaoru marveled, looking at Kenshin.

"That's because I _was_ much younger," Kenshin reminded them all.

"Ken-san, any idea how this version of yourself, from the past, might have wound up with us today in the present?" Megumi asked, and Kenshin shook his head.

"Like maybe it was time-travel?" Yahiko wondered aloud. "Yo, Battousai!"

The ghost bristled, Kenshin winced a bit, and Yahiko scrambled to correct himself. "I mean, uh, sorry, Battousai-san, can you tell us how you got here? Do you know what year it is?"

Ignoring the questions, the young hitokiri began to eat his meal.

"Stop pestering him," Kaoru insisted, picking up her own bowl of rice. "However he got here, he's welcome to stay as long as he wants, so everyone please be nice to him."

"Aah, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin attempted to protest, but was cut off by the echo of his own voice.

"Kaoru-dono," the ghost said a split second after Kenshin had said it. Kaoru felt a little heat rise to her cheeks, hearing her name said back-to-back by both voices like that.

"Yes?"

Battousai inclined his head again. "I'm grateful." Eyes staring down at nothing, he resumed eating.

Kenshin's shoulders slumped a little in relief. This strange replica of his former self didn't seem intent on killing anyone at the moment, thank goodness.

"Eat," Kaoru encouraged, as they all awkwardly remembered the meal in front of them.

"It's incredible," Megumi observed. "Unless we're all hallucinating, this is an eating, breathing, speaking person from the past."

Yahiko's eyes were round as saucers. "Does this mean he's seeing his future? Is that dangerous? Will he go back to the Bakumatsu and know things that he shouldn't know?"

"Surely it can't hurt him to at least know that he lives through it," Kaoru mused. "See?" she turned to Battousai and then pointed to Kenshin. "That's you! No matter what you were facing back then, you survive and wind up with good friends who love you. Understand?"

Battousai ignored her, slowly and mechanically feeding himself.

Kenshin shook his head. "I don't think he's from the past."

All eyes turned to him, except for Battousai's. "So? Where do you think he's from?" Yahiko asked.

Kenshin studied the ghost. "I still don't know," he said carefully. "But it's like he... like that part of me split off into its own body."

Yahiko began talking with his mouth full. "Are you saying Battousai got loose from your brain and just popped into existence? Ha! That's even crazier than the time travel idea!"

"Got _loose_?" with a worried frown, Kaoru considered what Yahiko had said. "But Kenshin, does that mean Battousai is, is _gone_? From inside your head?"

"I wouldn't say gone," Kenshin said, smiling a little with his eyes as a preemptive apology. "After all, he is right there. In obvious ways he's more _here_ than ever, but he's not where he's supposed to be."

"And where is that?" Megumi asked.

"I want to say, ' _inside my memory_ ,' but all my memories of him are still in place. That isn't where he's missing from." Kenshin's expression turned solemn. "So I guess I have to say, _inside my soul_."

Battousai sighed, as if slightly bored by the conversation. As everyone turned their attention back to him, he set down his empty bowl.

"I'm tired," he muttered.

"Oh," Kaoru immediately stood up. "Of course—that's no problem at all. Just come this way-" she started leading the young hitokiri down the hall, hesitating for a second about just where to put him for the night. "Ah, here," she said brightly. "Sleep in Kenshin's room."

Yahiko whirled to Kenshin. "Is that ok?" he asked conspiratorially.

"It... it is Kaoru-dono's house," Kenshin reminded him.

"Make yourself at home," Kaoru was babbling warmly. "I'll get you some extra blankets, oh, and a clean yukata. Just wait one minute!" She bounded away on her mission of hospitality.

Yahiko was perturbed. "Just seems extra creepy, if you're both gonna be in the same room together all night." He blanched. "What if he tries something? Like, what if he takes over your brain, and makes you his mind-controlled slave, or, or just goes berserk and kills you in your sleep?"

Kenshin gave another wan smile. "I don't think he's here to kill anyone."

"You don't _think_?" Megumi questioned. "Can't you tell for sure?"

"Actually, no," Kenshin admitted. "I can still sense his feelings and probably predict his moves, but I can't feel him with absolute certainty like before. And, it is worrisome that I can't control him anymore."

Megumi pressed for clarification. "In that case, shouldn't we be running for our lives?"

"Not that running would do us any good," Yahiko commented darkly. "Considering his god-like speed and all."

Kenshin shook his head. "No, no...aah, how to explain? I didn't kill anyone randomly or on a whim; they were all targets picked for me by someone else. If he'd been sent to kill any of us here, he would have just gotten it over with."

This explanation did little to ease Megumi and Yahiko's apprehension, but it did make one thing clear: Battousai in the past was Kenshin, while Battousai in the present was _him:_ the strange sullen boy that Kaoru had just escorted down the hall.

"Getting back to the subject of your soul," Megumi prompted, still trying to wrap her brain around the facts. "Parts of souls don't just 'split off' and corporealize. That's unheard of."

Yahiko looked up thoughtfully. "Would it be like... like an imaginary friend suddenly turning real?"

"I think souls and imaginations are different," Kenshin said kindly. "Souls are already real."

"I agree, Ken-san. Souls are very real. But for the soul of a person to...to materialize, corporealize, separate from the body it belongs to..." Megumi turned very white. "Forgive me, I'm not saying I believe in any such thing, but, that's the definition of a ghost."

"Mou," Kaoru said, returning to the room. "I told you he was a ghost."

"But Kenshin's still alive!" Yahiko protested. "How can it be a ghost if he's alive? And how can it be a ghost if it eats and talks? And aren't ghosts supposed to have no feet?"

Kaoru shrugged. "Just think about it. Battousai was already only barely connected to Kenshin anymore, being all repressed and hardly ever having a reason to come near the surface. If a ghost is a soul wandering outside its body, what better soul to do that than Battousai's? Why couldn't he just drift out into the world?"

"Because," Yahiko struggled to argue. "Because, because—because where did his clothes come from? And where'd the rice go, that he ate? It makes no sense!"

"I've heard stories of ghosts lifting and moving things," Megumi mused. "And sometimes, the ghost is solid enough to touch and be mistaken for a real person. It's all only stories and superstitions, but..."

"Stories and superstitions have to come from somewhere!" Kaoru exclaimed. "I think we should all just come to terms with it: we've got a regular old ghost story on our hands—the Haunting of the Kamiya Dojo!"

"Yeesh, sounds like she's ready to star in the play about it," Yahiko griped.

Kaoru made a face at him, then turned to Kenshin for approval. "What do you say, Kenshin?"

Kenshin looked confused. "There's going to be a play?"

"No, idiot!" Kaoru huffed as Yahiko snickered. "What do you say about your ghost? Do you accept the explanation that he just detached from your body and went wandering out?"

"My only concern is, um..." Kenshin hunched his shoulders and looked up at her sheepishly. "If Battousai can do that, what's to prevent the rest of my soul from drifting out the same way?"

"Because you're _using_ that part, stupid!" Kaoru glared at him in exasperation. "Don't you get it? You, Kenshin, have plenty of a soul left in there to live off of. The part of your soul that's really _you_ is stuck in your body until you die. Or at least it _better_ stay in there, or I will personally become a famous ghost hunter and track that soul down and stuff it back in you."

"Gross Kaoru, ugh! I'm going to have nightmares," Yahiko complained.

"Shut up," Kaoru dismissed him. "This lecture's for Kenshin. Because I want you to be very aware of the importance of keeping your soul safely inside your body from now on."

"I—I'll try my best?" Kenshin offered, to placate her.

"Good." Kaoru ignored it as Yahiko rolled his eyes.

* * *

to be continued!


	2. Chapter 2: ghost cat

Chapter 2: ghost cat

* * *

After their meal, Yahiko chivalrously offered to walk Megumi home, leaving Kenshin and Kaoru with the task of cleaning up the dishes.

Soon they were side-by-side in the kitchen doing just that, sleeves tied up past their elbows and out of the way. "...You going to be all right tonight?" Kaoru asked, noting that Kenshin seemed a little quieter than usual.

"Mhmm, yes, should be," Kenshin affirmed. He realized Kaoru was holding something back, some comment that she didn't want to sound too over-protective by saying. His face softened. "I will let you know if I need anything."

"And if either of you feel the need to, ah, wander away? You'll tell me first?"

He nodded. "I promise." Apparently Kaoru's fear of Kenshin leaving now extended to include a concern for Battousai leaving as well, a notion that Kenshin found deeply humbling.

"All right," Kaoru said with a nod. "In that case, I'll get some sleep. Good night, Kenshin!"

"Goodnight," he repeated back to her, and for the space of a heartbeat, they stood face to face in the kitchen and looked at each other.

The dishes were done, they'd said goodnight, and this was the end of another busy day at the Kamiya dojo. Now it was time for them to go off to their separate rooms as they always did.

And yet, for Kaoru, it felt like there was something more that needed to be done, some step in the routine that they always managed to skip. The tiniest flicker of aggravation appeared in her eyes as she realized she couldn't quite identify what she was waiting for. Deciding to end the little pause between them before it had a chance to sour into awkwardness, Kaoru turned her back, and was then completely oblivious to the way Kenshin smiled at the swish of the indigo ribbon in her hair.

"See you tomorrow then," she said forcefully, and marched herself to her room.

Kenshin watched her leave, his smile leaving with her.

Despite the warmth of Kaoru's indomitable good will, and the lingering brightness of Megumi's curiosity and heat of Yahiko's excitement, the dojo felt much colder to Kenshin that night. Battousai's negative energy was a familiar presence, of course—but it seemed so much stronger now that he was out in the world by himself.

Untying the cord to let his sleeves down, Kenshin blew out the lamp in the kitchen and proceeded through the darkened house to his own room, which was currently occupied by the ghost of his former self.

As he opened the door he began to feel unsettled. Something was wrong. "Excuse me," Kenshin muttered politely, entering.

The futon and yukata that Kaoru had set out had been left untouched. Battousai was crouched in the far corner, a drawn katana in each hand, obviously comparing the blades side-by-side.

The sakabatou's sheath lay empty in the middle of the room. Kenshin's eyes narrowed, and all politeness dropped away from his voice.

"Give it back."

Battousai tossed one of the swords to Kenshin, who caught it instinctively but then nearly dropped it again, because it felt so light in his hand.

"Wrong one," Kenshin said, lowering the blade to a neutral position.

Battousai held the sakabatou up and tilted it so he could see Kenshin's reflection in the steel. "This new one is much better," he murmured. "I haven't used it at all."

"I haven't needed you to," Kenshin said, stepping closer.

"Needed," the ghost repeated, letting the word sink in. He closed his eyes and leaned back into a sitting position against the wall, one leg drawn up. And then with his free hand he held up the sheath for his killing sword, offering it to Kenshin.

Kenshin accepted it and put the deadly katana away.

"It's strange," Kenshin remarked, looking sadly at the dark hilt in his hand, and the slender arc of death attached to it. "This is the one I left behind at Toba-Fushimi. The same one that Jinei found and was killing people with just last year. I never thought I would touch it again. But it feels right to put it to sleep this way." The sword clicked into place with a satisfying note of finality, and Kenshin offered it back to Battousai. "Trade," he said.

Without a word and without looking up, Battousai accepted the sheathed katana, and handed the sakabatou back to its rightful owner.

"Thank you," Kenshin said with a sigh. He retrieved the other sheath and put the backwards blade away, and then sat crossed-legged on the floor, studying his ghost.

"Because I'm not needed," the hitokiri spoke up unexpectedly. "...Is that why you let me go?"

Kenshin shook his head. "I had nothing to do with this. I never would have let you go on purpose. You're part of me."

There was a long silence, and the ghost continued to stare down at nothing.

"I don't know why I'm here," Battousai said at last, voice low, barely above a whisper.

"Well... how did it happen?" Kenshin asked.

"You were cooking and I..." his words trailed off as he thought of how to explain it. "Felt tired. I wanted to sit down so, I just stepped away. Yahiko was there as well and I thought he would be afraid, but, he couldn't see me. I scared the cat, though."

"Cat?" Kenshin asked. "What cat?"

"The ghost cat," Battousai said. "I followed it out to the porch and it grew fainter and fainter as I...turned visible. When Kaoru-dono returned home, the cat went to her but she couldn't see it—but by then, she could see me."

Kenshin looked perplexed. "I had no idea there was a ghost cat here," he confessed, and was then struck by a disturbing thought. "...Are there any other ghosts lingering around?"

Battousai shook his head. "I only saw the cat. It was white."

Kenshin sighed. "So you say you felt tired. Do you think you might be...aah, trying to move on?"

"No," the ghost said plainly, voice soft as night.

"Then, do you think you'll stay?"

Once more the ghost shook his head. "No. I've never felt very permanent."

Kenshin was taken aback. It sounded strange, that word: permanent. But somehow he knew exactly what the boy meant. "I remember that feeling, that it could be over at any moment. Death was always around every corner. I was giving my life, my...soul...for a future I had no hope to see." There was an undertone of surprise in Kenshin's voice, realizing just how different he was now from the killer he had been. The rurouni had made it to the future that Battousai had created; he was living in it every day, and had learned to value his own life again.

"You're going to stay here," Battousai told him, as if making a simple observation about the color of the wall. His voice was flat and quiet, but full of a certainty that Kenshin himself had never openly expressed.

"Yes," Kenshin realized, from the bottom of his heart. "That I will."

Outside, on the porch, the wind chime tinkled.

"Kaoru-dono would like that very much," the ghost remarked, in that same emotionless-yet-certain voice.

"I would like it too," Kenshin said, but then his brow furrowed in concern. "Wouldn't you?"

The ghost looked up at him, and then tilted his head as if listening for the wind chime.

"It's none of my business," Battousai said at last, and Kenshin remembered that feeling too: the reason he had turned down invitations to teahouses and political meetings and every activity that didn't involve the actual execution of his mission.

Kenshin felt sad for the ghost, as he usually felt when thinking of that part of his life. "Well," he said at last, not knowing what else to say to himself. "If you still feel tired, I hope you can get some rest."

Battousai's head tipped forward a little in acknowledgment, and Kenshin stood up to get ready for bed. A few moments later as he was settling down to sleep, Kenshin glanced over to confirm that the little hitokiri hadn't moved at all, except to prop his sword against his shoulder. Sensing no active thoughts, emotions or intentions, Kenshin assumed the ghost had indeed fallen asleep, and thought he might be able to get some sleep himself. But as soon as he closed his eyes, he heard the unmistakable sound:

 _The top._

Startled, Kenshin looked over at the little wooden toy, spinning on the floor in front of the ghost. As if from the sheer force of Kenshin's surprise at seeing it, it wobbled and fell over into a lazy circle. The ghost picked it up and began winding the string.

"I almost forgot about that," Kenshin admitted.

Battousai cast the top out again, watching with colorless eyes as it spun and spun, seemingly with a life of its own.

"Where did you get that?" Kenshin asked.

"Brought it with me."

Kenshin frowned. "What else did you bring?"

"Nothing. Sword, these clothes. A little money. This." He scooped the toy up, and it continued spinning in his palm. "And one of these." Battousai closed his hand on the top, then reached into the pocket of his sleeve and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

Kenshin recognized it immediately—it was one of the assassination notes they always left with the bodies, stating why the victims had been killed, proclaiming heaven's justice and the revolutionaries' cause.

"Whose name?" Kenshin asked in a low whisper.

Battousai turned it over, looked at it, and didn't answer. Instead, he held it up for Kenshin to see.

"It's blank," Kenshin said, confused.

"Is it?" the ghost muttered listlessly, as if he hadn't been interested enough to notice. He folded it back into his sleeve.

Kenshin was getting a bad feeling about this. Battousai wound the top, and cast it down to spin and spin.

That spinning top had helped Kenshin fall asleep many times in the past. As a child in Hiko's care he didn't sleep much, but he could watch the top spinning until it lulled him almost into a trance. And as a hitokiri he'd found it useful for keeping his energy in check. If his blood was too hot after a kill, or if he was too restless in between missions, the waves of ki roiling off of him would disrupt the top, crashing it. To keep it spinning he had to calm himself, calm himself, focus and be controlled.

But Kenshin had left that little wooden toy behind nearly fourteen years ago and hadn't thought of it since, and its reappearance was now far from comforting. Instead of being a soothing distraction from the horrors of the world, tonight that top was having the opposite effect.

"Can you stop that?" Kenshin asked at last. "It's driving me a little crazy."

"It's keeping me sane," Battousai replied. "It shouldn't bother you."

Kenshin frowned a little. "It's out of place, that's all. It doesn't belong here. I want to...to put it back."

The spinning toy wobbled again and toppled, defeated. Battousai stared at it for a while, mulling over Kenshin's words. "...You want to put _me_ back too," he stated, in another of those plainly-put observations.

As if on cue, Kenshin sensed something that would be the perfect excuse to get out of there. "Aah, Yahiko's home," he said apologetically to the ghost. "I'll go see if he needs anything."

He took the sakabatou with him.

* * *

Yahiko did not, in fact, need anything. Kenshin met him as he was just taking off his shoes. "Oi, Kenshin? That you?"

"Any trouble in the streets?" Kenshin asked.

"Nope, all quiet." Yahiko reported, yawning. "It's late! How's your ghost? Still here?"

"Yes. I think he's trying to settle down."

"Nice," Yahiko said, and then looked Kenshin up & down. "How about you? You okay? Can't sleep?"

Kenshin smiled to show there was nothing for Yahiko to worry about.

"I'm fine. I was just going to check on Kaoru-dono."

"Ugh, gross," Yahiko made a face. "Is that what you grown-ups call it these days? Whatever. I'm going to bed. G'night!"

The kid strode off, taking slightly oversized steps, trying hard not to be too obvious about acting bigger than he was. It really was unfair of him to tease Kenshin about checking on Kaoru, since he knew better than anyone just how chaste their relationship was.

Kaoru's father had left two precious things to the world: his kenjutsu style and his daughter.

Himura Battousai had contaminated the reputation of Kamiya Kasshin-ryu, but hopefully Himura Kenshin hadn't damaged Kaoru-dono's personal reputation too badly. Townspeople might gossip about imagined scandal, but Kenshin was always respectful of Kaoru's privacy and stayed out of her personal space. There might have been that one incident with the bath, but he never forgot that he was a guest in her house.

Tonight, though, Kenshin got the sense that Kaoru was having just as much trouble getting to sleep as he was, and there were more important things to care about than what the neighbors might think.

So he went to her room, pausing at the door to announce his presence.

"Mou," came Kaoru's exasperated voice through the wall, before he could speak. "I know that's you, Kenshin. What are you doing creeping about the house?"

"Sorry," he replied automatically. "I couldn't sleep."

Kaoru sighed loudly, and there was the sound of rustling blankets. "I can't sleep either," she admitted. "And Battousai is...?"

"Quiet," Kenshin submitted, since it was true.

"Quiet? Asleep quiet or awake quiet?"

"Not sure. But he was... bothering me a little."

Kaoru's voice switched to concerned disapproval. "Hmm, that's not like you."

It was true; he was usually the last person to be annoyed or flustered by anything. "I guess I haven't been feeling like myself tonight."

There was a pause, and Kenshin suddenly felt a little ridiculous to be talking to a closed door. He turned around, and sat on the floor.

"Are you going to stay out there all night?" Kaoru's voice demanded through the door. "Just come in."

"I'm all right out here, Kaoru-dono," he assured her. "I don't want to intrude."

"You silly—for goodness sakes, sitting on the floor in the hall all night is just as bad as sitting on the porch all night. Come in!"

Seeing no way to refuse, Kenshin obeyed, softly closing the door behind himself. He picked a wall to lean against and sat back down, propping the sakabatou comfortably against his shoulder.

"Now there's a familiar pose," Kaoru remarked.

Kenshin slid his foot out, relaxed his shoulders, and looked to Kaoru for approval.

"That's better," she told him with a smile. "Just dissimilar enough. In appearance, I mean." Even in the relative darkness of the room, Kaoru could tell by his face that he was thinking intently about something. "...Do you want to talk about it?" she offered.

Kenshin let out a breath. "Kaoru-dono," he began carefully, and then abruptly thought of something else. "Say, did you ever have a cat? A white cat?"

She gasped. "Miko-miko!" she exclaimed, and the memory came spilling out in a happy stream. "Yes! When I was very little. I loved that cat! I used to secretly feed her so much of my dinner. When she died I dreamed of her for years and years. I can't believe I never told you about her. She's buried under the maple tree in the yard. How did you know?"

"Battousai said he saw a white cat here."

" _Kyaa!_ " With a sound that was almost a tiny scream, Kaoru sat straight up in bed, hand to her mouth.

Kenshin looked around, half expecting the deceased animal to have made an appearance. But there was no cat anywhere that he could see—only a wide-eyed Kaoru, peering at him in shock. "I just remembered," she said. "When I was sad I would wake up sometimes and see Miko-miko sleeping at my feet, and I told my father about it, and he's the one who convinced me that I had only been dreaming her. But I wasn't dreaming—I was seeing her ghost, wasn't I?"

"So it would seem," Kenshin confirmed.

Kaoru lay back down, thoughtfully gazing at the ceiling. "I don't know if it makes me happy or sad, knowing Miko-miko is still around here as a ghost."

Out on the porch, the wind chime dinged again, punctuating Kaoru's introspection. She glanced at Kenshin and closed her eyes in happy semi-circles. "Listen to me, thinking of an old pet at a time like this," she chastised herself. "When we've got the ghost of the hitokiri Battousai lurking in the house."

"Yes, and I am a little worried," Kenshin told her. "His sword is real, and can cut."

"Doesn't mean he's here to kill people," Kaoru protested. "Maybe he's just here to rest. He said he was tired."

"He has one of the notes, the 'heaven's justice' papers we left with the bodies. But it's blank. I don't know what that means, but it worries me."

"A blank note..." Kaoru mused. "Well, that hardly seems threatening."

Kenshin felt a quiver of frustration. Even after everything she'd seen, everything they'd been through, she was still so naive. She had no idea what it meant, to have Battousai existing as a separate person now.

He kept his voice soft, and tried to warn her. "If that ghost feels like he has to kill someone, I might not be able to stop him."

She thought about that, and looked at Kenshin with eyes like ocean waves, charging the shore with conviction. " _I_ could stop him," she said, believing it. "He'd listen to me. If it came to that, it would be _my_ job to stop him."

Kenshin took a faltering breath. "Oh Kaoru-dono, no," he said, shaking his head. "You don't understand."

It had been the wrong thing to say, he knew.

She was annoyed at him now, and why shouldn't she be? He was worried, distraught, conflicted—completely understandable, after having a conversation with his own ghost. And he was, as always, concerned for her safety—but in this case, it was insane, because she was one _thousand_ percent convinced that Battousai would never hurt her. All together, Kaoru realized, this was not an appropriate time for romantic thoughts, but when was it ever? How many times had she lain awake at night and wished that he would come to her door? Now they were closer than ever, having an intimate conversation in her bedroom in the middle of the night, and yet it wasn't what she wanted _at all_.

Kaoru rolled onto her side, facing away from him so he couldn't see her scowl. "Listen," she said grumpily. "It's going to be all right. Battousai is welcome here because he's part of you. If he's forgotten that, we'll remind him. We'll get the two of you reconciled again. All right?"

"All right," Kenshin conceded gently. He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, feeling the approach of sleep at last. He hoped Kaoru was right, that it would all be okay.

Kaoru also closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep, hoping for the very same thing.

* * *

to be continued!


	3. Chapter 3: son of a samurai

Chapter 3: son of a samurai

* * *

Kaoru woke with a start, realizing the morning felt a little late. She looked to where Kenshin had been sitting the night before, but he was gone, leaving no trace that he'd been there at all. Brushing aside her disappointment at Kenshin's absence, Kaoru remembered her other guest and wondered if maybe he too was gone, vanished in the brightness of day like a proper ghostly spirit.

Tugging on her training gi and tying her hakama around her waist in a rush, she hurried into the hall, and nearly bumped foreheads with a red-haired head.

"Ah! Sorry!" Kaoru exclaimed as the ghost sidestepped her to avoid the collision. "So! You are still here after all. Good. And, good morning! Are you feeling alright?"

Battousai didn't answer, just tried to edge his way past her, continuing the way he'd been going.

"Do you need anything?" Kaoru asked cheerfully. "Can I show you around? Did you find the bathroom?"

The ghost paused and looked at her, and seemed mildly offended. "I know this place," he said flatly. "I've been here as long as _he_ has."

Kaoru blinked a few times, a little heat rising to her face in embarrassment. "Of course you have," she realized. "Sorry about that. It's just different seeing you here like this. I know you're not a stranger; you're part of the family." She gave him her best smile, full of warmth and acceptance, but he just glowered at the floor. When it became evident that Kaoru had run out of words to say at him, he slowly dipped his head to her to take his leave, and went silently on his way.

Kaoru watched him go, feeling vaguely puzzled and dissatisfied about their encounter. Had she said something wrong? No, she didn't think so.

Her eyebrows lowered in determination. If she hadn't said anything wrong, then there was only one conclusion to reach.

She practically stomped into the yard, tying a white headband around her head. Kenshin and Yahiko were there by the well, drawing water. "Maah, Kaoru-dono, you look upset," Kenshin observed, strategically backing away.

"Hnn. That little hitokiri needs an attitude adjustment," Kaoru declared.

Yahiko's mouth dropped open. "You mean Ba...Batt...Battousai? _That_ 'little hitokiri'?"

"Unless you know of another one around here, that's the one," Kaoru confirmed.

Yahiko burst into a fit of laughter so severe, he almost fell over. "Yeah right, Kaoru. Go for it! Woooo boy, I would love to see that-"

There was a mighty _thwack!_ and Kenshin ducked as Yahiko went sailing over his head, propelled by an expert strike from Kaoru's shinai.

"Did something happen with the, um, the ghost?" Kenshin asked Kaoru, eyes serious. "Was he rude to you?"

If Kenshin's recollections of his other self were still true, the ruder Battousai became in speech and behavior, the more likely he was to be imminently killing someone.

"Not exactly," Kaoru said, much to Kenshin's relief. "But something's wrong with him. He's here with us yet he's still in his own world somehow. I think we need to make friends with him."

Yahiko had recovered and dragged himself back to Kenshin's side, still brushing dust from his clothes. "Make _friends_?" he grumbled, incredulous. "A minute ago I thought you were wanting to thrash him with your shinai."

Kenshin smiled at a sudden memory. "Thrashing people _is_ how Kaoru-dono makes friends with them, more or less. At least, that's how it seemed to work with me."

The slide of a door made them all turn their heads, and the shadowy figure of the ghost appeared on the porch. He took no notice of the three dojo residents conversing at the well, and simply made his way back to the same spot where Kaoru had first seen him. He pulled his sword from his waist and sat down with his back against the wall, moving with a weary grace that reminded Kaoru of a tall stalk of grass. Flexible, yet affixed, slumped in the wind.

Battousai leaned his sword against his shoulder and then just stopped moving.

"What's he doing?" Yahiko asked Kenshin, keeping his voice low.

Kenshin sighed. "I think he's resting," he humored Yahiko's question, although he rather felt an explanation was unnecessary.

"Right." Kaoru said. "Well, he may need rest, but _I_ need some exercise. Yahiko, let's go! Practice, now."

Yahiko opened his mouth to complain but then thought better of it and dutifully followed his kenjutsu instructor into the dojo. At the door he paused and looked over his shoulder at Battousai.

Making friends with the ghost...could he really do it?

* * *

The hours passed, the shadows shortened and then began to grow in the opposite direction, and Battousai hadn't moved. Practice long over with and other chores complete, Yahiko decided to give 'making friends' a try. He strolled by in the yard, acting like he wasn't trying to figure out if the ghost was asleep, and couldn't help but notice the cold slide of the hitokiri's eyes, tracking Yahiko as he moved.

So the ghost was definitely awake then, unless he unconsciously followed people with his eyes while he was sleeping, which wouldn't be the most far-fetched thing Yahiko could imagine, honestly.

Now that he knew Battousai was awake, Yahiko decided on a course of action, and detoured into the training hall. He emerged a moment later with a pair of shinai, hopped up onto the porch, and offered one to Battousai.

"Hey, I'm bored. Want to swing these around for a while?" he asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

"No," Battousai answered softly.

Yahiko sighed. "That's what I figured. Kenshin never does, either."

"He will, someday," Battousai predicted. Yahiko looked at him curiously.

"So... you're cool with being a ghost?"

No answer.

Yahiko rocked back and forth on his heels a little. "Can you, like, talk to dead people and stuff?"

"Not yet," Battousai replied.

"Why _not yet_?" Yahiko echoed back, shocked.

Kenshin emerged across the yard, carrying some empty buckets, and Battousai's eyes tracked him. "Probably because I'm still alive."

Yahiko gulped. "You're not thinking about, you know, _changing_ that, are you?"

"No," Battousai said.

"But you think you'll really be able to talk to dead people, once you die?"

Battousai blinked slowly, as if deciding if that question was worth answering. "...What do you think happens, when you die?" he asked at last, looking away.

Yahiko was taken aback. "I don't know, geesh. I guess you go to the next world and get to see the people you loved and who loved you."

"What if you see the people you hurt and who hurt you?"

Yahiko felt cold. "That sounds like the opposite kind of place." he looked critically at Battousai. "Hey, that's not what you're thinking, is it? No way. You're not going to hell when you die."

"Why not?"

"Because," Yahiko's eyes gleamed with conviction. "You're Kenshin, remember? He doesn't deserve that. There's no way."

"I deserve it," Battousai said softly, leaving no room for argument.

"Ugh, you're creeping me out," Yahiko complained. "Just like a ghost after all. What else you got? Can you, like, float and stuff? Walk through walls?"

Battousai closed his eyes. "No."

"Can you possess people?"

The eyes reopened and studied Yahiko. "Haven't tried."

Yahiko shuddered. "gyah, well, please don't. Man, what else is there... oh yeah, are you like, _cold_?"

He meant cold to the touch, and as he asked, he reached out to grab Battousai's arm, but the ghost shied away. The motion wasn't very dramatic. He moved the way a cat sometimes sank too low, vanishing under your hand. The difference was the cat usually corrected and came back up. Battousai just adjusted his position a few inches further away, hunching a little lower against the wall, out of reach.

"Yahiko!" Kenshin called, hurrying over. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah, uh, jeez—what'd I do?"

"Sorry," Kenshin apologized, and glanced up at the ghost and then back to Yahiko. "Ah—that's—Back then, I didn't like to be touched."

"Oh," Yahiko said, frowning. "Weird. What's the deal?"

"Don't talk about it," Battousai said quietly. Kenshin nodded to him, then gave a significant 'leave-it-alone' look to Yahiko, and went about his way.

Yahiko sat down against the wall next to the infamous hitokiri, letting his legs splay straight out instead of mimicking the ghost's balanced pose. "Something you don't want to talk about," Yahiko mused tactlessly. "Hmmm. Sounds traumatic." He looked for a reaction, got none, and plowed ahead.

"Hey, it's cool, I totally get it. I know about traumatic stuff too. My mom was-" Yahiko choked on the memory. He thought he was totally over it, but maybe not. He did still cry about it sometimes, when nobody could see him, of course. "Yakuza," he blurted out, finally getting Battousai to look at him. "That is, I was, well it's a long story, but I had to, uh, work for them. They kind of owned me, back then. They beat me a lot and made me do bad stuff. So trust me, traumatic stuff, I get it."

The corner of Battousai's mouth flinched in a way that almost looked cruel. The expression vanished so quickly, Yahiko wondered if he'd imagined it.

"Yakuza," Battousai repeated.

Yahiko nodded. "Yeah."

"Hn. Slave traders," Battousai said.

"No, just Yakuza."

The cruel look returned, for a split second second longer. "I meant me," Battousai muttered. "When I was younger than you, I was owned by slave traders."

Yahiko blinked. "Really? Kenshin was? I had no idea."

Battousai looked away.

"Wow," Yahiko pondered this new information. "Seriously? That sucks." He leaned his head back against the wall and stared out at the sky. And then he got an idea, sort of. Being a slave and being owned by the yakuza was kind of a similar thing, right? "Slave traders, ugh!" Yahiko exclaimed. "And how old-fashioned is that? What kind of _dirty peasant_ would get themselves bought by slave traders?"

Yahiko glanced over at Battousai to see if any of this was having an effect. Kenshin usually reacted warmly when Yahiko got spun up and opinionated about this sort of thing; perhaps a good rant would stir up some better conversation with Battousai, too.

But the ghost just stared at nothing, unperturbed. "...You're right, Yahiko. It was because of the caste system," Battousai muttered at last. "The samurai were corrupt and rotting. Their oppression maintained the system in which people could be purchased and used like things."

"Wow, yikes," Yahiko said, backing down in the face of this unexpected philosophizing. "Tone it down a notch. You _did_ win the war. My parents are dead just like yours. And they were samurai."

"I know," Battousai replied placidly. "I might have cut down your father in battle."

A breeze tinkled the wind chime hanging above them, as the son of a Tokyo samurai family and the imperialist hitokiri regarded one another. It wasn't the first time Yahiko had considered that unlikely possibility, so it wasn't an earth-shattering thought by any means, but still, to hear him just say it, so conversationally, was knocking Yahiko for a loop. It wasn't a subject that Kenshin had ever brought up.

"Well aren't you a bundle of fun," Yahiko grumbled at last, refusing to be cowed. And then, solemnly and with no ill-will, he embraced a rare moment of maturity. "Hey. I'm sorry about the 'dirty peasant' comment. I thought you might come back and say it was something that a stuck-up samurai brat couldn't have handled."

Battousai gave the tiniest shrug. "I was usually dirty. And hungry."

"So was I," Yahiko remembered, with a particularly keen pang. "That's why, the yakuza—I thought I was too proud to be bribed with food, but, as a little kid..."

"You survived," Battousai said, in a way that made it clear there was no shame in it.

Yahiko smiled, feeling suddenly very grown up. "Thanks," he said, getting to his feet and stretching his arms over his head.

"What for?"

"I don't know, just... for understanding. You're cool. I think Sano will like you too, if he gets over his fear of ghosts."

Way out in the Ruffian Row house, Sano sneezed.

"Everything ok out here?" Kaoru's voice asked cheerfully. She appeared on the porch in her yellow kimono, a tray in her hands bearing two steaming cups of tea.

"We're great," Yahiko told her.

"I saw you boys were getting along and wondered if you'd like some tea. I know Battousai-san has been out here all day without a sip to drink."

"Serving tea..." Yahiko muttered, eyes narrowing in suspicion. "That's very... nice of you, Kaoru."

"What's wrong with being nice?" Kaoru wondered aloud, sounding a little too innocent.

"Don't be fooled," Yahiko said to the ghost. "This woman is more likely to smack you over the head with the tray than serve you tea on it."

"Only if you're asking for it, which Yahiko- _chan_ seems to be at the moment. It's your choice. You can have tea like a civilized person or a smack on the head like a scruffy little miscreant."

"Tea," Battousai said softly, accepting the cup that Kaoru was quite pleased to give him. "Thank you."

"Fine, I'll have some too," grumbled Yahiko, taking the other cup.

"There you go," Kaoru said happily. She tucked the tray under her arm with a split-second menacing glare at her student, and then her cheery demeanor returned. "What were you boys talking about?"

"Nothing much," Yahiko said loftily. "Kensh—I mean, Battousai was just reminding me how great it is that the samurai caste was abolished in the revolution, that's all."

"Really?" Kaoru felt her face pinken at the mention of such a sensitive subject.

"Yeah. I mean, some families fell on hard times, but, overall more people can be happy now that everyone's equal," Yahiko stated, in a blatant whitewashing of the issue. He looked down at his tea and bolted it in one gulp, Sanosuke-style. "Thanks for the tea, Kaoru." He hopped off the porch.

"You're leaving?" Kaoru asked.

"Yeah, I was just going into town for a while. I'll be back for dinner, but only if Kenshin's cooking!"

"Take care," Kaoru called after him, and watched him strut away. She closed her eyes happily. "Yahiko likes to act tough," she noted to Battousai.

"He _is_ tough."

This observation took Kaoru by surprise. She knelt down to sit with the ghost as he drank his tea, curious about what else he might say. "...Any wounded heart can hold a grudge," Battousai explained. "To hate and want revenge is natural. The country is full of the sons of samurai who hate the Ishin-shishi for what we did. Choosing not to hate or hold a grudge takes a large heart, a strong heart."

"Which Yahiko has, after all," Kaoru beamed. "I'm going to tell him you said that. You know how much he looks up to you—well, to Kenshin."

"Kenshin looks up to Yahiko as well."

Kaoru made a face. "Really? How do you mean?"

"Yahiko's presence is good for him. In Yahiko he can see that even a boy from a disgraced samurai family can thrive and live honorably in the new era. For Yahiko to be growing up into a good person, means that what I did, was..." his voice trailed off.

"Was?" Kaoru prompted.

"It means it worked," the ghost finished, emotionless. "The new era we hoped for is really here. Our country has a bright future. Kenshin can see that everyday, in Yahiko. It brings him peace."

"Just him? Not you too?" Kaoru asked, concerned.

The ghost nodded faintly. "Kenshin is the one that feels peace. He's strengthened by peace, fed by it. Which is what keeps _me_ repressed."

"You seem very self-aware," Kaoru remarked.

Battousai raised his teacup and took a silent sip. "I know what I am," he muttered. "I've killed more than a hundred people, and every day I might be one kill away from not caring anymore, and then just killing, killing anyone in my way. Anyone who annoys me. Anyone I want."

"But we both know that never happens," Kaoru insisted. "You came close to losing your humanity, but you never actually did. And you _won't_."

"Because Kenshin has controlled me, all these years," Battousai reminded her. "Now that we're separated, I have nothing holding me back. I'm on the edge of madness, where I was before I was cut."

His words drew Kaoru's gaze to his face, pale and young and unscarred.

Her eyes flashed. "How can you say you have nothing holding you back?" she chided. "You have all of Kenshin's memories, his feelings for his friends—doesn't that mean anything to you?"

The ghost shook his head, and sipped his tea. "It's all for him," he said. "Not me. I'm the soul of the killer that Kenshin's opponents are always trying to provoke. And no matter what I am aware of, such as Kenshin's admiration of Yahiko, or his feelings for _you_ , none of it changes what I've done, and what makes me who I am."

"We all know we can't change the past," Kaoru said, making an effort now not to sound too reproachful. "But... can't we choose how the past affects us now? Or how it affects our future?"

Eyes that should have been amethyst studied Kaoru with cold indifference.

"I told you I know what I am. But I still don't know why I'm here. If I'm to affect the present, or the future, I have no idea."

"We'll figure it out," Kaoru promised, and then squeezed her hands a little too tightly in her lap. "Now, um..." she blushed, but couldn't stop herself from asking. "You mentioned something about Kenshin's feelings for me?"

Battousai finished the tea and set down his cup. "I don't care about any of that," he told her blankly.

Kaoru frowned, flustered. "Then, what _do_ you care about?"

The ghost picked the teacup back up, turned it in his hand as if admiring the craftsmanship of the clay. "I care about getting it over with," he said, voice quiet. "Killing them faster and faster." His eyes closed. "And making it quieter. It begins to annoy me when they scream."

He put the little cup down on its side and gave it a spin. To Kaoru's surprise, it spun quite well, whirring against the wood.

Wearily, Battousai got to his feet, and nodded to Kaoru. "Thanks for the tea," he muttered, and turned to take his leave. Kaoru watched the cup spinning as the ghost walked away, until finally it lost its momentum and slowed to a rattling roll. By the time Kaoru reached out to retrieve it, the ghost of the hitokiri Battousai had vanished back into the house.

Kaoru held the cup in her hand and looked at it, wondering and wondering. Maybe Kenshin was right after all; maybe she _didn't_ understand.

* * *

to be continued


	4. Chapter 4: ikiryou

Chapter 4: Ikiryou

* * *

Megumi stopped by for a visit just after dinner, accompanied by a disgruntled Sanosuke with a large wooden-framed pack on his back.

"How's the haunted dojo this evening?" Megumi asked warmly, as Kaoru met her at the gate.

"Is that Bakumatsu ghost-boy still here?" Sano grumbled, eyes shifting side to side in suspicion.

Kaoru sighed. "Yes, he's still here. He'll talk to you if you talk to him, but otherwise, it just seems like he wants to rest. We've all stayed out of his way the past few hours."

"Can we go inside?" Megumi asked. "I've brought some things that might help."

Kenshin and Yahiko joined them as they settled in the house. Sano hefted the large pack off his shoulders and set it down with a thud that shivered the floor boards.

"Good grief, what'd you bring?" Yahiko asked. "A load of bricks?"

"'Bout as heavy as a load of bricks," Sano groused.

Megumi's eyes glimmered with a secretive smile. "It's books, mostly. I convinced our rooster-head that my need of his strong shoulders outweighed his fear of the supernatural."

Sano grumbled something about wily women which Megumi ignored with ease.

"I know it puts my professional reputation on the line, but I've spent the day researching ghosts."

"So these are ghost books?" Kaoru asked, opening the pack and lifting out some of the volumes. "Like, kaidanshu? _Ugetsu Monogatari_ , that sort of thing?"

"Yes," Megumi said. "But I brought other things too. There are stories about ghosts from all around the world. There are Buddhist ghosts, Shinto ghosts, Christian ghosts, Hindu ghosts."

"Battousai must be a Shinto ghost, right Kenshin?" Yahiko asked, as if this were of utmost importance.

Kenshin scrunched his eyes up rurouni-style, and hunched his shoulders in a little shrug.

"I found lots of resources for that," Megumi said, lifting several more books from the pack. "I brought supplies for cleansing ceremonies, too."

"Cleansing ceremonies?" Kaoru echoed, worried. "Isn't that just for bad luck, or evil spirits?"

"Maybe it IS an evil spirit," Sano half-whispered. They all looked to Kenshin for his opinion on that ominous suggestion, but he just blinked back at them.

"Anyway," Megumi pressed on, "The closest thing I've found to this situation is some literature on astral projection. Basically, it's when the soul leaves the body while the person is still alive, and there have been cases of it reported all over the world."

She picked up an obviously Chinese book and turned to a certain page. "Take this, for example. It's from a Taoist legend, _The Story of Han Xiangzi:_ 'Xiangzi fell asleep, but his spirit woke up and went to the banquet hall. When the officials went to look, there was one Xiangzi sleeping on the ground, and another Xiangzi singing and playing a drum. The officials said, ' _Although there are two different people, their faces and clothes are exactly alike. Clearly he is a divine immortal who can divide his body and appear in several places at once._ ' At that moment, the Xiangzi in the side room came walking out, and the Xiangzi sleeping on the ground woke up. The two merged into one'."

"Why, that's it!" Kaoru declared. "That's exactly what we have here!"

"Does that mean Kenshin is a 'divine immortal'?" Yahiko asked, clearly uncomfortable with the prospect, but also clearly willing to consider it.

Megumi shook her head again. "There's nothing immortal about our Ken-san. I've felt him dying under my hands."

She fixed Kenshin with a solemn look, which he acknowledged with eyes that said he was sorry, and grateful.

Megumi shook herself free of his gaze and set the Chinese literature aside. "But that brings me to the most interesting part," she said, rifling through the contents of the pack and lifting free two more volumes. She found a particular page of one and handed it to Kaoru. "Read this."

Kaoru took the book and skimmed it, her eyes growing wider. "Oh my goodness. _Ikiryou:_ The soul of a still-living person which leaves the body and moves about on its own."

Kenshin bristled and looked up, and a second later, Battousai stepped into view from the hallway.

" _Ikiryou!_ " Yahiko accused loudly, pointing at him.

"Living ghost," Battousai rephrased quietly, looking first at Kenshin, and then at Kaoru.

"Of course that's what you are," Kaoru exclaimed. "I can't believe we didn't realize it right away."

"Umm, I did say from the beginning, it was like a part of my soul had, ah, wandered out," Kenshin reminded them all, a bit sheepishly.

"Yes-yes, but, I didn't realize that was actually _a thing_ ," Kaoru sputtered. "Like, a thing that actually happens to people!"

"There are plenty of legends and folktales about it," Megumi said, and opened the final book in her hands. "And, there's one more thing: this is an outdated doctor's almanac, very old. Gensai-sensei still had it on the shelf in the office, but never mind that. Listen to this: _Rikonbyou_ : _an illness where the soul separates from the body and assumes the shape and appearance of the sufferer._ People used to believe this was a real disease."

"Soul separation illness?!" Yahiko repeated, amazed. "There really is such a thing?"

Megumi looked back and forth between Kenshin and Battousai, and sighed. "It appears that yes, _rikonbyou_ is indeed a real thing. Unfortunately, there's no record of a cure."

There was a moment of silence.

"Sanosuke," said Battousai flatly, interrupting the hush and causing the rooster-head to nearly jump out of his skin. "You're sweating."

"So what?" Sano retorted. "It's hot in here, and I had to carry a hundred stupid books all over Tokyo just to tell us what we already knew, which is that _you're_ a goddamn ghost."

This outburst brought them back to the problem at hand.

"That's right," Kaoru said firmly. "Now we just have to figure out how to merge Kenshin and Battousai back into one, like in the Chinese legend."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Yahiko wondered loudly. "Does it say in one of these books?"

"Not exactly," Megumi said with a smile. "But, I brought some things we might try." She reached into the pack once more, and began bringing out all kinds of items.

"Where'd you get all this?" Yahiko asked, curious.

"Here and there," Megumi replied.

"Got a bunch of it from a friend of mine," Sanosuke volunteered, having been jostled out of his previously non-participatory mood by Battousai's rude observation. "I know a guy, owns a fortune-telling shop, sells some dirty pictures and bunches of ghost books. Oh, and you can gamble in the back."

"Lovely establishment," Megumi commented. "But we did find some information there on how to conduct seances, exorcisms, how to communicate with the spirit world and so forth."

Kaoru watched in fascination as Megumi arranged the items from the pack. There were bundles of herbs for smoldering. Salt. Incense. Paper and wooden talismans. A bell. A mirror. Even a bamboo container of holy water and one of those paper-shakers from a Shinto shrine. And package after package of candles. "Megumi-san, I'm surprised. I thought you hated all that superstitious stuff," Kaoru said.

"Of course I prefer real medicine," Megumi explained. "But this is a situation that science can't explain, and when your patient" -she glanced lovingly at Kenshin- "has a condition that you don't know how to treat, sometimes you have to experiment a little."

Yahiko's eyes were wide as saucers. "Are we really gonna do an _exorcism_?" he asked in fascination. "Isn't that like, to get a ghost _out_ , not put one back in?"

"Let's start by seeing if any of these things have any effect," Megumi offered, and then looked back and forth between Kenshin and Battousai. "With your permission?" she asked formally.

Kenshin nodded, a bit apprehensive.

Battousai gave the merest shrug.

And so, consulting several books and taking meticulous notes, Megumi got to work. Kenshin squinted at the smoky herbs and coughed a little at the incense. Battousai only frowned at the floor. Kenshin flinched at the salt and the holy water and cringed at the talismans and the paper-shaker. Battousai barely blinked at the water, even as it splashed his face, and seemed bored by everything else. The ringing of the the little bell made Kenshin wince, but Battousai remained indifferent.

"Maa, Megumi-dono, isn't that enough?" Kenshin asked at last, his voice a little agitated. "It doesn't seem to be working."

Megumi sighed and put down her notebook. "Let's try something else. Everyone, sit in a circle and hold hands."

They scooted closer together, until their knees almost touched. Kaoru took Yahiko's hand with her right, and with her left she reached for Kenshin's hand and gripped it, giving it a little extra squeeze, and was disappointed when he didn't squeeze back. Kenshin extended his other hand to Sano, who grasped it with a vise-like grip. Sano then took hold of Megumi's hand, a little less tightly, to his left, and the circle was nearly complete. Megumi and Yahiko turned to look at the somber ghost seated between them, his hands listless in his lap.

Smiling her most reassuring smile, Megumi extended her hand.

Battousai looked down at it, then up at Megumi's face, and gently took her hand in his own. Then he glanced sideways at Yahiko, and clasped hands with him as well.

"Aha!" Yahiko said to the ghost brightly. "You're not cold after all."

A tiny frown crossed Kaoru's face. Yahiko's hand was warm, too, but Kenshin's felt a little cold to her.

"All right, what is this for?" Sano asked gruffly, trying to hide his nervousness at being included in some supernatural ritual.

"This is how you conduct a séance, to communicate with the spirit world and summon ghosts," Megumi explained.

"Do we really need that?" Sano griped, as if it was the worst idea he'd ever heard. "Isn't one ghost enough?"

"Maybe we can find someone's ghost to explain how Battousai got here?" Yahiko wondered.

"Like Tomoe-san's ghost?" Kaoru blurted out, and then bit her lip and glanced at Kenshin in concern. He looked back at her faintly, as if through a haze.

"Or Katsura-san's ghost?" Battousai suggested. Yahiko studied him, intrigued by all the possibilities.

"Or, maybe just the ghost of some random guy you killed?" the younger boy asked.

Kenshin interrupted with a sound that was sort of a gulp. "No, please," he said with a shaky voice.

"Shame on you, Yahiko," Kaoru scolded, giving his hand a corrective yank. "I don't think we should summon any more ghosts. Let's just ask the spirit world if they'll please fix this and put the two of them back together."

"Is that alright with you?" Megumi asked the hitokiri, whose hand felt very heavy in her own.

"It's fine." Battousai fixed his cold gaze on Kenshin across the circle. "No reason to be here. Don't care about any of this, don't have anyone to kill. Put me back to sleep."

Out of the corner of her eye, Kaoru saw Kenshin's chest heave, and she realized all this was really bothering him.

Megumi read several prayer-like incantations from the book that was open in front of her, adding her own words at the end to explain their specific request.

They waited.

Nothing happened.

On the porch, the wind chime rang once, and Kenshin let out a breath.

"Aw, come on spirit world," Yahiko muttered in disappointment. "Give us _something_. This is lame."

One by one they let go of each other's hands, except for Kaoru holding on to Kenshin's. He made no move to pull away, and neither did she.

"I have one more thing we can try," Megumi was saying, unwrapping the packages of candles. "Sano, Yahiko, help me set these up." The boys moved to assist her as she explained. "I think we should play a game to evoke the spirit world. It's called _Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai._ "

Sano didn't like the sound of that at all. "How do you play?"

"We play by lighting one hundred candles, then telling ghost stories. For each story, you blow out one candle, and look in this mirror." She set the mirror on the floor in the middle of their circle. "As it gets darker, most people chicken out and stop the game. But if your group is brave enough to blow out the final candle, something supernatural is supposed to happen."

"This is a bad idea," Sano warned. "We shouldn't be messing around with this stuff."

Megumi rolled her eyes. "If we start now, we should get to the final candle right at the hour of the ox, which is traditionally the best hour for supernatural occurrences."

"Sounds cool!" Yahiko enthused, excited by the idea of staying up all night playing a scary game, especially one that would challenge his bravery. "Let's do it!"

Kaoru frowned. "What do you think, Kenshin? Should we try it?"

Kenshin swallowed and attempted a smile. "We may as well," he consented.

* * *

The game began, with Sano reluctantly agreeing to go first. Gradually he got into his story, which was an old traditional ghost tale. "...and when they found him in the morning, he was in a bed with a skeleton!" Sanosuke concluded dramatically.

"Gross!" Yahiko reacted, causing Sano to grin. He blew out the first candle, and looked in the mirror as required.

"I'll go next!" Yahiko volunteered. "My story is about people that got buried alive by an earthquake with their hands reaching out of the ground. The hands withered to bones and looked like tree roots sticking up, but when children walk by, the hands come to life and try to snatch them!" He made a snatching motion in the air, and looked around for a reaction.

They were all watching him expectantly.

"Then what happened?" Sano prompted.

"Uh, I guess that's it," Yahiko admitted, deflated. "It was really scary the first time I heard it."

"Good enough," Megumi deemed. "Yahiko, blow out a candle. Who's next?"

Kaoru told a story about a floating head, which Yahiko criticized as being not scary at all. Megumi followed that with a story about a woman that turned into a giant spider.

"Your turn," Kaoru encouraged Kenshin.

He took a breath. "Well, I once heard a story about ghosts in the sea," he began, and told an old, very sad tale. "...and on the sea at night, you can see them floating under the water, staring up with open eyes," he finished at last.

Everyone except Battousai shuddered. Kenshin blew out a candle.

They looked briefly at Battousai, but he shook his head, so Kaoru went again, telling a story of a girl being followed by the sound of footsteps. "...when she stopped, they stopped, when she ran, the footsteps hurried behind her, drawing closer! She ran to her room and hid under the covers, and listened as the footsteps came..." she banged her palm on the floor, mimicking slow, steady footfalls. "...right to the foot of her bed! And then, on the wall, she saw the shadow of a man! Before she could even scream, she was pulled up out of bed, and on the wall she saw the shadow had its hands around her neck, choking her to death."

"Wow! That was way scarier than your first one," Yahiko complimented her.

"Thank you," Kaoru said with dignity, extinguishing yet another candle. She peeked in the mirror.

One after another, the stories flew. Battousai sat quietly and listened as the rest of the gang told tale after tale. Sano and Megumi, it turned out, knew plenty of ghost stories, and delighted in telling them as dramatically as possible. Sano told how he'd once been visited by the ghost of Captain Sagara from the Sekihoutai, and the story of the monk Anji and the tragic children, burned alive.

After three or four turns, Kenshin was the first to insist he'd exhausted his repertoire, so Megumi gave him one of the kaidanshu she had brought, and instructed him to read one of the stories from there.

Before long they were all reading from the collections of ghost stories, sometimes finding ones they'd heard versions of before, and sometimes reading something strange and new. Soon half the candles were out, then three-quarters.

"...and the villagers say, if you look into that well under the full moon, one of the demons will jump out and pull you in," Yahiko finished reading.

Now all but eleven of the candles were out.

"I have one," Battousai offered, speaking up for the first time.

They all looked at him, intrigued. "It's a nightmare I've had," he continued, voice soft and low. "I once killed a man who fell as a whole body, but a second after he hit the ground, the body came apart into four pieces, along the lines I had cut. That night I dreamed that body was on the floor in the room with me, and the pieces jerked together and stood up and staggered towards me before crumpling and falling into separate parts again."

Kenshin convulsed, and Battousai locked eyes with him. "Had you forgotten that one?" he asked passively.

"No," Kenshin replied, closing his eyes.

As Battousai put out the ninetieth candle, the wind outside began to pick up, and they all felt the temperature of the room drop a bit.

Ten candles left.

"Mou, this is terrible," Kaoru complained, mostly out of concern for Kenshin's well-being after hearing Battousai's grisly nightmare. "Maybe we should stop."

"No, no, I think we're onto something," Megumi countered. "Let's tell more personal stories now." She proceeded to tell a story about her murdered parents, which Yahiko followed with a recounting of how he thought he'd seen his mom once, shortly after her death.

Eight candles remained. Yahiko looked curiously at Sano. "Oi, Sano, what about _your_ mother?" he asked. "Isn't she dead too?"

"You leave my mom out of this," Sano threatened. "If her ghost was anywhere around here, she'd probably beat my ass for doing a hundred things she told me not to do."

The wind howled, rattling the shoji doors in their frames and making them all flinch. "Jeez, ma, I'm sorry!" Sano cried out defensively, raising his arms as if to fend off a shower of blows. "I'll clean my room tomorrow, I swear!"

The wind settled down, leaving them all looking at one another. Kaoru giggled. "Did that count as one?" she asked Megumi.

"I think so," Megumi nodded. "Sano, do a candle."

"This is getting creepy," Sano grumbled, pinching one of the little flames and then glancing at his reflection.

" _My_ mother," Kenshin spoke up suddenly, "was very beautiful. When she died, people said...people even said she was a beautiful corpse. But I didn't think so. To me, she just looked dead."

"Ugh!" Sano grunted. "Beautiful corpses are the worst! Half the stories in these kaidanshu are about beautiful corpses. They're like, the ultimate creepy thing."

"Did you ever see your mother's ghost?" Yahiko asked Kenshin. "Or, could you ever feel her spirit watching over you?"

Kenshin's shoulders slumped a little. "No," he said with a sad smile. "I imagined for a while that it would be nice to have them—my parents—watching over me. But then I realized, if they couldn't help me, it was better if they didn't see."

He put out another candle, peered into the mirror, and wondered briefly if his mother's violet eyes weren't gazing out from behind his own. "Oh," he looked up. "But I should mention, I _did_ feel Tomoe's spirit watching over me, after, she,"

"I," corrected Battousai.

Kenshin narrowed his eyes at the ghost. "Died," he finished.

"Killed her," Battousai muttered at the same time.

The wind, which had been whipping at the walls, suddenly calmed.

"Dead wives are another common theme in these things," Sano grumbled, flipping through the pages of the kaidanshu. "Are we totally sure your Tomoe-san isn't the, uh, come-back-and-wreck-your-life kind of girl?"

Both Kenshin and Battousai shook their heads, an identical motion. "She's at peace," Kenshin said with certainty. "And only wishes peace for me as well."

"I think that's worth two candles," Megumi determined. "One from each of you, since you both remember her." Kenshin and Battousai complied, each extinguishing one flame. Battousai checked his reflection, and then sat back to let Kenshin lean forward. The wind began to rustle again outside.

As Kenshin looked down at the mirror,

 _plink!_

A single drop of blood hit the glass.

Carefully, Kenshin brought his left hand to his scar.

"What happened?" Kaoru asked, worried.

"It's bleeding." Kenshin's voice was half-whisper. "It hasn't done that in a long time."

"Maybe it was caused by remembering Tomoe-san," Kaoru said, and passed Kenshin her handkerchief, which he pressed against his bleeding cheek.

"And it must be the hour of the ox by now," Megumi added. "The spirit world could be moving closer."

Four candles left.

Around them, the dark was creeping in.

Yahiko's eyes were round with excitement, and a splash of fear. "This is getting scary," he said. "Should we keep going?"

"Let's finish it." Battousai stared at the remaining lights. "I know which other ghosts to evoke."

Kaoru had let go of Kenshin's hand a while earlier, but now she reached for it again. He didn't resist, but Kaoru couldn't help noticing that his hand seemed _lighter_ somehow, hollow. His hands had always been so strong, and warm, the few times she'd touched them. Now, Kenshin's hand was decidedly cold, and colder than it had been at the start of the game. She gave it a squeeze, and this time, he squeezed back— _weakly,_ she thought, but then pushed it from her mind. She refused to believe that Kenshin was weak. It must just be the spooky setting, messing with her perceptions.

"Three of these flames," Battousai said quietly, "Should be for the three sisters who died protecting me, the night that Hiko found me. They must have watched over me, too. I thought of them sometimes, and sensed they were unhappy, to see what I became."

He said their names, extinguishing a candle for each one.

"Kasumi-san...Akane-san...Sakura-san."

He looked in the mirror three times, and then focused on the single flame glowing in the darkened room.

"And this is for the ghost of Tomoe's fiance, Kiyosato Akira."

The wind rustled up again, banging the shoji. The wind chime jangled madly, as if in warning.

"...I should probably have mentioned," Megumi spoke up, "that nobody ever blows out the last candle."

The final flame sprouted up, larger than the others had been, thrumming, pulsing.

"Whatever." The corner of Battousai's mouth twitched. "I'll put it out."

"Don't," Kenshin said, and at once they were both on their feet _,_ facing off, absolutely the mirror image of each other. Kenshin slid in front of the candle, guarding it, but that didn't stop its light from reflecting in the hitokiri's eyes, yellow and hot.

When Kenshin had gotten up, Kaoru realized, his hand had slipped from hers without her feeling it... like it had slipped _right through her fingers._

"Move," Battousai ordered, emotionless as stone.

The flame shuddered at the surge of ki. Kenshin was crouching, and worse, Battousai was mirroring him-that infamous battoujutsu stance. _No!_ Kaoru thought, and then managed to say it aloud. "No, No, _No_ -"

She gasped at the explosive burst of energy as they drew their blades and lunged. For just a split second she saw an image of the sakabatou blocking the killing blade, Kenshin's back trembling from the strain, and then, Battousai just, just _pushed through_ him as if he wasn't even there.

Battousai's blade reached its target, cutting the wick of the candle.

Kaoru screamed, " _Kenshin!_ "

And darkness immersed them all.

* * *

to be continued!

Author's note: ugh, I had so much fun writing this chapter. Thanks wikipedia and yokaidotcom for educating me about all this stuff. The hundred candles game is a real thing. An ikiryou is actually a kind of Japanese ghost, a soul manifesting as a copy of a person. And "soul separation illness", while probably out of fashion in the Meiji jidai, used to be considered a real thing too. Crazy.

as a side note, after watching the live action movies 100 times, I am suddenly desperate for Kenshin/Megumi fics, which are few and far between. If you know where they are hiding, let me know. Many thanks!


	5. Chapter 5: who are you protecting?

Chapter 5: Who are you protecting?

* * *

" _What happened?!_ " Sano shouted as the room went dark. _"Where's Kenshin?!"_

Reacting immediately and with great levelheadedness, Megumi lit a lamp. The fresh source of light revealed Sanosuke already on his feet, poised for a fight, his shadow looming huge on the wall behind him.

Battousai stood alone in the center of the room, head bowed, gleaming blade held perfectly still.

"Kenshin's gone!" Yahiko yelped, looking wildly around the room.

" _Rrrrrrgh_ you damn ghost!" Sano's fists trembled, and he lunged.

Kaoru saw the hitokiri's arm twitch in the split second before Sano's punch connected, and she realized what it meant—the boy had stopped himself from moving, from slashing at his attacker. He'd stopped himself from cutting off Sano's arm, and possibly Sano's head, and had chosen to take the hit instead.

She cried out "Sano _don't!_ "-Too late. Battousai's entire body folded around Sano's fist, his feet coming off the ground. Sano changed tack to drive his victim into the floor head-first, but in a blur of motion the hitokiri spun into Sano's movement, stealing the attack's centrifugal force and redirecting it.

In a split second, Battousai's knee wrapped around Sano's neck and Sano barely had time to utter " _What the-_ " in shock before he was taken to the floor in a slam that bounced the tatami and creaked the ceiling beams.

Sanosuke was on his back with the breath knocked out of him, wondering what had happened. He knew his punch had impacted—he'd felt the weight of his airborne victim's body wrapped around his fist, and it should have been Battousai on the ground gasping for air right now, not Sano.

"Stay _down_ , you stupid rooster!" Megumi barked as Sano tried to get up.

"Don't fight!" Kaoru implored at the same time. "Please—do not fight!"

Battousai stared down at Sanosuke through disinterested eyes, and pointed at him with the tip of his katana. "You stink," he said curtly.

Sano's clenching fists _crunched_ and made them all jump, except for Battousai. "You rude little red-haired Ishin- _shithead_ ," Sano was swearing, getting to his feet. "I will pound the ever-living-"

"Calm down, calm down Sano!" Yahiko spoke up, as Sanosuke squared off against the ghost.

"But he's asking for it!" Sano protested. "He's, he's _instigating_ it!"

"Sano's right," Megumi spoke up, voice full of authority. "Battousai-san, let's stop this. Let's talk about what happened, no fists, no swords. Agreed?"

The hitokiri stood still for a moment, letting the unresolved challenge cool in the air, and then gave a halfhearted flick of his wrist, shaking his blade free of imagined blood. Tucking the weapon into its sheath, Battousai seated himself on the floor next to Yahiko.

Growling a little bit, Sano also sat down, next to Megumi. "Thank you," Megumi continued sternly, frowning at the ghost. "Now, why did you try to provoke Sanosuke?"

"His fear annoys me," Battousai replied, voice cold. "The stink of it, in his sweat."

"But he attacked you first, and you _didn't_ try to kill him." Kaoru leaned towards the legendary hitokiri, searching his face, trying to steady her racing heart. "Does that mean... did it work? Did you and Kenshin...merge back into one?"

Battousai shook his head. "No," he said simply.

"So what happened to Kenshin?" Yahiko demanded. "Is he just... _gone_?"

Battousai closed his eyes. "He's not gone. I can still sense him. If I had to guess... I would say that _Kenshin_ is the ghost now, and I am..." his voice dropped a little. "Real."

Kaoru felt her skin prickle. The hitokiri Battousai had been real enough to walk and talk and dwell in the house with them for more than a day now, but to hear him say it like that, it seemed to mean something different.

"I knew we shouldn't have messed around with that spirit-world stuff!" Sano crossed his arms, indignant.

Megumi cleared her throat. "Ahem. Excuse me, Ken-san? If your spirit can hear us, give us some sign that you are with us, please."

They all sat in silence, waiting.

Kenshin, at this point, was feeling more than a little concerned about his situation. He had figured out he was invisible to all of them, and when he'd tried to stop Sano and Battousai from fighting, the two combatants had moved right through Kenshin's body with an unpleasant feeling like when the winter wind got into your clothes.

It had been a thoroughly terrible handful of seconds, actually, as Kenshin had transitioned from solid flesh-and-bone to whatever intangible thing he was now. He hadn't been particularly comfortable during the hundred-candles game, and now he realized he must have been gradually fading out. The feeling had reached its peak once that final candle flared, the solitary light in the room, and Kenshin had sensed that something significant was about to happen. He didn't know what, but he also didn't want to find out. He'd wanted Battousai to back down, to leave the candle alone.

And suddenly it had come to a challenge—the ghost of his former self had wanted to end the game, to reach the conclusion, to confront whatever awaited them in the dark...and Kenshin had not. Whatever it represented, Kenshin had felt with all his heart that he wanted to leave that last light burning.

Battousai didn't _care_ , and Kenshin did. So they'd drawn their swords, and in the next instant Kenshin felt the sakabatou give way. Then he had been aware of the Battousai's blade slicing through him, shoulder to hip, the steel like a cold splash of water.

For a single heartbeat he wondered if that was really what it felt like, to be cut down by the hitokiri Battousai.

Kenshin had been slashed by plenty of swords, but never like that. It felt completely... unreal.

As the candle went out and Kaoru screamed, Kenshin knew he should be dead. Battousai's katana should have severed his spine, his life should be leaking out in a red puddle on the floor, leaving one last stain in Kaoru's house. But he wasn't. He was still standing, unhurt, not even bleeding except for the tiny trickle from his cheek.

Then of course he'd tried to untangle Sano and the hitokiri during their scuffle, and had learned that he was no longer able to interact with the physical world in the usual ways.

And now Megumi was asking for some proof that he was there, and Kenshin had no idea how to provide that. He reached for the supplies that Megumi had brought from the fortune-telling shop, but his hands passed through everything he tried to touch. He couldn't even turn a page of a book.

"There must be something..." Kenshin muttered to himself, and looked around the room. He focused on the lamp and tried to make the flame flicker, but it ignored him. He took a deep breath and pooled his ki, trying to stir up a breeze.

"I know he's here," Battousai informed them all, interrupting Kenshin's concentration.

"Yes, I feel it too," Kaoru said, sounding hopeful. "He probably just doesn't know how to communicate with us yet."

"This doesn't make sense," Yahiko complained. "Battousai was a visible, solid ghost. If Kenshin's a ghost now, how come we can't see him? Wouldn't he have the same ghost-powers as Battousai?"

They all looked to Megumi, but she shook her head.

"I don't know," she admitted, and began stacking up some of the books. "But at least we know that the game _did_ have a supernatural outcome. Just not the one we asked for, unfortunately."

"Oh, the game!" Kaoru thought of something. "We didn't really finish it, did we? After you blow out the candle, you're supposed to look in the mirror, ne? Battousai-san, after the last candle, did you-?"

They all looked at the little mirror, forgotten on the floor.

"No," Battousai realized. "I didn't."

"Wait, that gives me an idea" Megumi said. "Ken-san, if you're here, look in the mirror. Perhaps that will end the game, and merge the two of you back together."

Kenshin bit his lip and moved towards the mirror, totally unseen by everyone in the room. He leaned forward, looked down—caught a glimpse of himself in the glass-

The mirror cracked.

They all gasped, except for Battousai.

"What does that mean?" Yahiko demanded loudly. "Are mirrors supposed to crack when ghosts look in them? Is that a superstition or something?"

"Not that I've ever heard of," Megumi said. "But for me, I'm going to consider it as proof that Ken-san's spirit really is here."

"Wow." Yahiko grimaced, and then cast his eyes around the room, moving several times right through the space that Kenshin was actually standing in. "Um, Kenshin, if you can hear me, please listen. Don't float away, ok? You gotta come back to us."

"That's right," Kaoru said, and closed her eyes as if praying. "Kenshin. We need you. No matter what this is, we'll figure it out. We won't give up on you. So please... don't leave."

"Yahiko... Kaoru-dono," Kenshin said, although he knew they couldn't hear him. "Don't worry. I'm not leaving."

"What do we do now?" Yahiko asked, and suppressed a yawn.

"Hmpf. I don't know about y'all, but I've had enough of this creepy stuff." Sano stretched his arms above his head. "So I'm going home to get completely sloshed."

"No, stay," Kaoru blurted out. "Megumi-san, you too. It's so late already. Just stay here for tonight."

Megumi nodded to her, understanding immediately. "Of course we will. Thank you, Kaoru-chan." She gathered up a few of the books. "I'll go set up the guest room. And I'll just take these to do a little further reading, in case I can't sleep." She turned to Battousai and let her smile turn sly. "And don't worry, I'll make sure our smelly bird-head takes a bath. He _is_ rather rank."

"Oi! Don't take his side!" Sano protested.

"Come on. Bath time," Megumi ordered, and Sano rose to exit, muttering his grievances.

Megumi stepped out into the hall, and Sano followed her, but paused at the doorway. He looked around at the walls of the room, as Yahiko had done. "Kenshin..." he said, compelled to offer some words of support to his currently incorporeal friend. "Get your shit together. If we all get whacked by your little Ishin-shishi self over here, I am sure as _hell_ gonna find you in the afterlife and kick your ghostly ass."

Megumi rolled her eyes.

Kaoru scowled. "Nobody is getting 'whacked'," she scolded.

Sano shrugged. "I'm just sayin'." He pointed at Battousai. " _That_ is a killer. He's not Kenshin. You all want to feed him dinner and hold hands and have nice conversations with him? Ha. Good luck. He's gonna kill somebody sooner or later."

"Enough," Megumi ordered, swatting Sano with her hand to shoo him out into the hall. "Sorry Kaoru."

"It's ok," Kaoru called after them. "Goodnight, Sanosuke."

She turned her attention to Battousai, to see if he'd been offended by Sano's comments.

The red-haired boy glanced at her and gave a little shrug. "He has a point."

Kaoru decided it was time to put her foot down. "Hmpf. I don't care," she declared. "'Killer'. 'Not Kenshin'. Well, that's fine. But while you're here, you're not allowed to kill anyone. It is expressly against the rules of the Kamiya dojo, as you know." She straightened her back and held out her hand, palm up. "Your sword, please."

Battousai gave her a blank look.

"Sword," she repeated. "Give it here."

Yahiko gaped at her. "Kaoru, you crazy-!" he half-shouted. "He's not gonna give you his sword!"

"He is," Kaoru insisted, raising her chin a little.

"Why take it now?" Battousai asked quietly. "You didn't try to take it from me when you found me last night."

"That's because Kenshin was here," Kaoru replied.

"You believed he could protect you," Battousai said flatly. "From me."

"I believed he could protect all of us. And maybe he still can. But, just to be on the slightly-safer side, I'd like your katana out of the way."

Observing all this, Kenshin felt his heart go out to Kaoru-dono. He was honored by her faith in him, which was stronger than his faith in himself. And he definitely approved of her rather bold demand, telling the hitokiri to give up his weapon. Now he only hoped Battousai would comply.

"And if I refuse?" Battousai asked.

Kaoru locked eyes with him. "You're free to go," she told him. "I don't own you. But know this: when I met Kenshin and found out who he had been, I told him I wasn't asking the hitokiri to stay here. I only wanted Kenshin."

"I remember," Battousai acknowledged.

Kenshin remembered it too, how that moment had felt, expecting rejection and instead being welcomed. Wanted.

"But now," Kaoru went on. "I _am_ asking _you_ , Battousai, to stay."

She let that sink in for a moment, watched it fill the emptiness behind his eyes as he considered it. "Under one condition," she finished, and motioned with her outstretched hand.

Battousai bowed his head.

And placed his sheathed katana into her palm.

Kaoru bowed her head back to him in respect, and brought the sword up to study it. This was the weapon that had ended over a hundred lives. She tried not to think about it— _it's only steel_ , she told herself.

With a firm grip, she wrapped her other hand around the hilt and jerked it open, exposing a handsbreadth of the blade to check it.

It was definitely sharp on the correct side, nothing backwards about it. Satisfied, she clicked the sword shut, and then held it out to Yahiko.

"Yahiko," she commanded. "Take this and hide it someplace. Just make sure it's better-hidden than those dirty pictures you borrowed from Sanosuke and left in the shed."

"You found those?!" Yahiko recoiled, aghast. "And, you want _me_ to take _that?_ "

"You heard me," Kaoru said, not in the mood for arguing. Turning pale, Yahiko accepted the hitokiri's sword.

"Wow, it's light," he realized, having subconsciously anticipated the more familiar weight of the sakabatou. "Are you sure this is okay?" Yahiko looked up at Battousai uncertainly. "You know, this woman is kind of unstable..."

"Yahiko, go!" Kaoru snapped, and the boy scurried from the room.

"I will find it, if I want to," Battousai remarked quietly.

"In that case, it will be my job to make sure you _don't_ want to." She smiled at him.

"Reckless," he muttered, standing up to take his leave. "A brave, reckless girl. That was Kenshin's first impression of you. Having no concept of how far out of your own depth you are."

" _Depth_ , is it?" Kaoru felt a prick of adrenaline, and her heart rose, irrepressibly, to the challenge. "You've no idea of my depth. And if you want to find out... _Test me_."

Battousai was halfway out the door, and stopped to look at her over his shoulder. He closed his eyes half-way.

"Goodnight," he said, and went off down the hall, silent as, well, silent as a ghost.

* * *

to be continued!


	6. Chapter 6: between action and intention

_A/N: sorry for the long delay! I got promoted at work and I've been non-stop busy for weeks. I haven't even had time to watch my new, legit blu-ray editions of the RuroKen live action movies! The bootleg versions I've enjoyed til now have been great, but I'm glad to finally own the non-bootleg editions too. Now without further ado, let's get back to ghost-rurouni! This chapter picks up right where the previous one left off._

* * *

Chapter 6: Between actions and intentions

* * *

Left seemingly alone in the room now, Kaoru took a deep breath, and let it out as a sort of a growl:

" _Kennnshiiiiiinnn..._ "

Kenshin ducked instinctively, even though he was pretty sure that in his present state he was invulnerable to objects thrown at his head. "I'm here, Kaoru-dono," he said aloud, hoping she would get the message even if she couldn't hear his words.

"I just want you to know," Kaoru told the seemingly empty space around her, "That I am going to try my best to keep that boy sane. And even though he is welcome here, _you_ are still the one I want."

 _Want._ That word had embarrassed Kaoru-dono before. Now she said it clearly, unashamed. Maybe it helped a little that she couldn't see the one she was talking to.

"If you understand that," Kaoru continued, glancing down at her hands in her lap. "Then figure out how to tell me so."

She sighed and picked up some of the books that were still open on the floor. "I like Megumi's idea of reading a little more before falling asleep. So that's what I'm going to do."

Having collected a few volumes, she made her way to her bedroom, leaving Kenshin's ghost wondering what on earth he was supposed to do now.

" _Mrreow_."

The tiny noise made Kenshin jump, and he turned to find the source: a white cat perched in the rafters, tail hanging down and twitching, analyzing him with luminous eyes.

"Ah, you must be Miko-miko," Kenshin said to the cat. "I guess I can see you, now that I'm, eh, a ghost."

The cat narrowed its eyes and made a low purring sound in approval, and then leapt lightly to the floor. It circled Kenshin once, then trotted away—directly through a wall.

Kenshin wondered if he could do that too. He cautiously stuck his hand through the shoji—no problem. He took a breath and held it, as one might when going underwater, closed his eyes, and stepped through the wall.

It was a little disorienting, emerging on the other side, but after trying it two more times Kenshin decided he was used to it. He looked around for any sign of the ghost cat, but it had abandoned him.

Not knowing what else to do, Kenshin decided to check on everyone at the dojo.

Sano was soaking (and sulking) in the bath, his clothes crumpled into a heap awaiting addition to the laundry basket.

Megumi-dono was reading in bed, the futon for Sano set out just far enough away from her own to avoid being completely scandalous, but still close enough to make Sanosuke uncomfortably conscious of her proximity. Nothing less from such a fox, after all.

Battousai was back in Kenshin's room. He seemed to have decided to settle in and stay a while, Kenshin judged, based on the fact that he'd changed into the yukata that Kaoru had left for him. He was sitting on the floor, watching the top spin again, and looked up when he felt Kenshin's spirit enter the room.

"I know you're in here," he muttered.

Kenshin got an idea. He focused on the top, and sure enough, was able to disrupt its spin by projecting his ki.

Battousai was not impressed. "You want to play. Too bad." He picked up the top and tucked it out of sight. "Leave me alone."

Kenshin felt a twinge of sympathy, metered by a flurry of annoyance. He wondered if all teenaged boys were as recalcitrant, or if he had just been an especially difficult case.

There was a rap on the door frame.

"Hey," Yahiko's voice said from outside. "Can I come in?"

"What do you want?" Battousai asked, as Yahiko slid back the door and entered, carrying a wooden sword.

The younger boy took a breath and looked around the room. "Weird," he said. "It just kind of seems like Kenshin's here."

"That's 'cause he is," Battousai said flatly. "He's right over there." He nodded towards the correct area of the room, to Kenshin's surprise.

"You can see him?" Yahiko asked, curious.

"No, but I can almost see his ki."

"You can see ki?" This was clearly one of the coolest abilities Yahiko could imagine. "What's it look like?"

"If I focus, I can almost see it," Battousai said, squinting a little in Kenshin's direction. "It's just like...energy. Like the blur of heat in the air."

"Wow, that's awesome," Yahiko admired openly.

Battousai cocked his head and studied Yahiko. "Did you come to tell me where you hid my sword?"

Yahiko grimaced. "No, but, I brought you this." He held out the bokken. "I know you like to rest with your sword on your shoulder. Kenshin sort of naps like that too, sometimes. So I figured you were used to it, and might not be able to sleep without it. So, I brought you this as a substitute. I know it's not the same but, probably better than nothing."

Now Kenshin was the one impressed. This was a seriously insightful gesture on Yahiko's behalf, and one that was exceptionally kindhearted as well.

"Thank you," Battousai said coolly. "Kenshin's proud of you."

Yahiko was taken aback. "Huh? Kenshin is? Like, in general?"

"Well, yes. But also for this act specifically. He's pleased that you're...showing kindness to me."

"So you can read his emotions too?"

Battousai nodded. "It's easier now than at first. Like how you can only pick out a sound once you know what to listen for."

"I guess that makes sense." Yahiko yawned and rubbed his eyes. "well, Thanks Kenshin. And thanks Batt..." Yahiko stopped abruptly, frowning. "Hey, can we call you something else?"

Battousai shrugged. "It's what people call me," he said.

"Yeah but, it's just... it sounds too mean. And with Kaoru and Megumi calling you 'Battousai-san', ugh, that's just stupid." He brightened at a sudden thought. "How 'bout 'Himura'?"

"That's fine," Battousai said.

"Himura, yeah. Himura-kun." Yahiko grinned. "Yeah, that's cool. Well I think I'm going to bed. It's been a long night."

Yahiko excused himself, and Kenshin did his best to project feelings of approval and appreciation into the room. "I might have been a terrible teenager even without the revolution," Kenshin remarked to himself. "But at least you handled that well, with Yahiko."

Battousai sighed. "I have no problem with Yahiko," he said, almost in direct reply to Kenshin's words. He picked up the bokken that Yahiko had left, and tried leaning it against his shoulder. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do. "It's _Sanosuke_ that I can't stand."

"Sano hates the Ishin-shishi and is afraid of ghosts," Kenshin reasoned. "So it's understandable that you aren't his favorite person."

"He seems too much like a target," Battousai mused, and Kenshin was almost certain now that they were having a conversation.

"Can you read me well enough to actually _hear me_?" he asked, to clarify.

"Maybe it's because I killed so many brash men, strong men with that swaggering attitude, convinced of their righteousness, eager to pick a fight. Those were the easiest to cut down," Battousai went on, more or less talking to himself. "That's all Sano reminds me of. I can't figure out what you see in him."

Kenshin sighed. "Guess you can't hear me after all."

Battousai lowered his head. "Now you're disappointed," he identified correctly. "I must be missing something."

 _Yes,_ Kenshin thought intently. _I need you to pick up words, not just feelings. Words!_

"Whatever," Battousai grumbled, and closed his eyes. "Go try haunting Kaoru-dono. She probably misses you already."

Kenshin felt annoyed again, and hoped his miserable adolescent self was aware of it. But, as he wasn't getting anywhere with the boy, he decided to go check on Kaoru after all.

* * *

He paused at her door, as he had the night before, and hoped that she could sense his presence. There was no light from inside the room, but something told him she wasn't asleep just yet. He wanted to go in and sit by her side again, but felt uncomfortable about intruding. It seemed lecherous somehow, now that he was invisible and could just stick his head through the wall to spy on her whenever he pleased. _Kaoru-dono won't mind_ , he assured himself, and stepped through the door.

She was already in bed, laying awake and gazing soulfully at the ceiling.

"Kaoru-dono, it's me," he said softly, wondering how much of an effort he should make—if he should make one at all—to draw her attention to his location.

Kaoru's eyes fluttered and she glanced his way, as if in response to his words. "You're here," she whispered, feeling suddenly sure that Kenshin was present in the room. "Ah, good." She scrunched herself down under the covers a little, until the blankets were up to her nose. Her eyes closed into playful semi-circles, and she muttered conspiratorially under the covers. "I hoped you'd come and spend the night with me."

Ghost or not, Kenshin felt a rush of heat in reaction to that comment.

"I'm joking," Kaoru added, sticking her chin out over the blankets again."But actually, I'm not. Oh, you know what I mean." She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Or maybe you don't. Kenshin, you're an idiot. ...But I guess I'm an idiot too. Laying here talking to myself, talking to you..." she shook her head. "I think I'm less afraid of speaking what's on my mind, now that I can't see you and you can't answer."

Kenshin agreed with that assessment; Kaoru-dono wouldn't have teased him quite so directly about sleeping with her if he was visible.

"I just never know how open to be, how honest to be," Kaoru was saying, speaking into the quiet space of the room around her. "I know that you _know_ , already, you must know. But when will the time be right? Can I just ask you? Must I wait and wait?"

She was pouring her heart out, and Kenshin felt overwhelmed. Of course he knew that Kaoru-dono loved him; it was as obvious to him as the sun in summer, and just as fiery-bright.

It was an energy that he absorbed day after day, but couldn't quite express in return. Affection, perhaps he managed once in a while, and friendship and devotion and love of the platonic or even familial variety were all easy and comfortable for him to give. But of course that wasn't enough. He was holding back, not ready, or maybe not able, to reciprocate Kaoru's love for him in the way she wanted.

Kenshin settled into the same space on the floor that he had occupied the previous night, and was glad to discover that he could lean against the wall without slipping through it, as long as he didn't think about it too much. (if he thought about it too much, he could sink his feet right through the floorboards, and that disturbed him.) He wasn't sure if he needed to sleep, as a ghost, but he was sure that he needed to be near Kaoru-dono.

She was still mulling over Kenshin's problem, her voice uncharacteristically somber. "I wonder if it's because of Tomoe-san. After loving her, perhaps you don't want to love anyone else."

"That isn't true," Kenshin said.

"I know you'd say that's not so," Kaoru continued. "But I wonder if maybe it is the reason after all. The guilt...the terrible pain of that loss...how could you ever _heal_?"

"By meeting you," Kenshin answered, wishing she could hear him. "Only by meeting you, and living here with you, Kaoru-dono. I am sorry I haven't told you yet."

"I just want to know what you're waiting for," Kaoru said wistfully. She closed her eyes, resigning herself to sleep, leaving Kenshin to wrestle with the aching echoes of her emotions.

Why was he holding back? What was he missing? It was the same question that Hiko had forced him to answer half a year earlier, before learning the ultimate secret of hiten mitsuryuugi ryu. Back then, it had been the regard for his own life that he lacked... but now, he was missing something else—like a physical body, and control of a certain formerly repressed hitokiri.

Those were some things he would definitely need to reclaim.

Kenshin tucked his hands into his sleeves and focused his energy inward, studying the core of his own being. Kaoru was his future, he was certain. But before he could tell her so, he would have to reconcile with who he'd been in the past... and at the moment, he had no idea how to proceed.

* * *

By the time Kaoru woke up, Sano and Yahiko were noisily devouring most of the food that Megumi had made for breakfast.

"Hurry and wake your guest," Megumi encouraged Kaoru over her shoulder, trying to keep a steaming bowl out of Yahiko's reach. "Or there won't be any left!"

As Kaoru made her way down the hall, she sensed Kenshin fall into step behind her. His sudden presence gave her goosebumps, and she peeked back, hoping to see him.

Nothing there. "Still invisible, Kenshin," she grumbled in disappointment.

He projected his best apologetic feelings at her, hoping she would register them.

The door to Kenshin's room was partially ajar, and right away he felt that something was amiss. Battousai was still there, he was certain, but seemed to be...unconscious.

Picking up on Kenshin's slight feeling of alarm, Kaoru wasted no time in sliding back the door.

"Everything okay in here?" she asked loudly, and then gave a short gasp.

The red-haired boy was there, on the futon, partially under the blankets— _asleep._

To Kenshin, this was concerning. Battousai usually only slept sitting up, and never deeply enough to miss having a door opened to the room he was in. But the boy laying in the middle of the room was quite plainly sleeping like a normal person.

As Kaoru paused, one hand to her mouth, considering whether to disturb him, Kenshin decided to try to nudge the boy's foot with his own.

Only instead of tapping against its target, Kenshin's foot slid right through it—or more like, _into_ it.

Kenshin's foot, now overlapping somewhat with Battousai's, gave a violent twitch which served to catapult the little hitokiri straight into a panic. In a blur the boy launched himself into a sort of a backwards somersault, which ended when he crashed into the wall. Scrambling to get his feet underneath him, he crouched in the corner like some kind of wounded animal, low to the ground and bristling.

"...Good morning," Kaoru deadpanned as Battousai gradually realized where he was. "Did you sleep...well...?" her voice trailed off distractedly as the boy recovered enough to stand up straight, his hair falling over his shoulder, untied.

Kenshin and Battousai felt the shift in her attitude at the same instant, and both were taken aback.

 _Oh no_ , Kenshin thought awkwardly as Kaoru-dono and his younger, corporeal self considered each other. He recognized her slightly-faster heartbeat, the faint heat on her cheeks, those beautifully widened pupils. _This is bad._ He glared at Battousai, at his stupid red hair. _Stop being so... pretty!_

Suddenly self-conscious, Battousai looked away. "What do you want?" he muttered.

"There's breakfast, if you hurry," Kaoru said. "Sorry to have startled you."

"It wasn't you, it was...him." Battousai looked around the room and squinted in Kenshin's general direction. "He did something to my foot."

"Kenshin did? Like what?"

"I'm not sure, but I didn't like it," Battousai said, looking around for the tie for his hair. He found it, and immediately gathered his hair back into a ponytail.

Kaoru managed not to be overly fascinated by that action. "Are you feeling alright?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Battousai answered frankly, and looked her square in the eyes. "Actually, I'm better than fine. With Kenshin out of the way, I finally feel alive."

 _Out of the way?_ Kenshin frowned.

"Ah, is that so?" Kaoru was clearly uncomfortable now. "...I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing," she admitted.

"Neither am I," the hitokiri said, and stepped past her into the hall. "Now... there's breakfast?"

Kaoru turned to go with him, leaving Kenshin to ponder his situation.

That twitch of his foot—obviously Battousai had felt it too. Would it have been the same with anyone else's foot, or was Battousai's reaction unique?

* * *

Megumi's eyes lit up in a smile as Battousai seated himself between Yahiko and Sano. "Three boys," she chuckled to herself. "Seated in a row: shortest, short, and tall. Like three brothers."

"Feh, don't say 'three boys' like we're little kids," Yahiko grumped. "Say 'three men' instead."

Megumi stuck her nose in the air a little. "The only man around here is Ken-san," she declared. "And since he's invisible at the moment, that leaves just boys."

"Grrr," Yahiko clenched his teeth in momentary frustration, and then turned to Battousai. "Hey, Himura-kun. How old are you, anyway?"

Battousai blinked a few times, thinking about it. He brought his hand to his cheek, missing its famous scar. "Physically, it seems, fourteen," he reported.

"Too young!" Megumi sighed, but her eyes smiled again. "I will do my best to make sure you don't go hungry." She passed him a bowl of rice.

"Thank you," Battousai said humbly, and began to eat.

"This isn't right," Sano muttered. "How can we be acting as if nothing is wrong? Today we have to find a way to turn Kenshin back to normal, and put _this guy_ " -Sano indicated the boy next to him with a toss of his chin-"back inside him."

"Hmm," Megumi narrowed her eyes. "I wonder... maybe it's supposed to be the other way around?"

Sano looked at her blankly, not following.

"Oh, I get it!" Yahiko realized. "Put Kenshin back into Battousai!"

"Battousai existed first, after all. His personality developed long before Ken-san became Ken-san," Megumi explained.

Kaoru seated herself across from the boys and accepted a bowl of rice from Megumi. "You're saying Battousai is the original, and Kenshin has just been... superimposed?" she asked.

Megumi nodded. "Perhaps it wasn't Battousai who split off into his own body. Perhaps it was Kenshin. According to the ikiryou legend, the 'alternate personality' becomes strong enough to have its own body. That must be how they split, and the reason that Kenshin-the ikiryou-was the one affected by the hyakumonogatari last night, instead of Battousai, the original _._ "

"But..." Kaoru looked down at her food, and then straight across into the hitokiri's eyes. "Kenshin isn't the alternate! Kenshin is the true version. No doubt about it."

"So what would happen if they merged back together now?" Yahiko wondered. "Would Kenshin be able to take over, or would he be repressed the way Battousai used to be?"

"And," Megumi said, giving a significant look to Kaoru, "Would he still be fourteen?"

"Hey," the red-haired boy huffed. "I know everything your rurouni knows. This is just the body of who I was before _he_ existed. Before it ever occurred to me that I would have to atone for what I'd done, before the rift in my mind between my intentions and my actions, this was me."

"So you've got the mind of a 28-year-old, trapped in the body of a 14-year-old," Sano summarized.

"Twenty- _nine_ by now," Battousai corrected.

"But..." Kaoru's eyes poured into his, searching for what wasn't there. "Knowing everything... you could still kill?"

"Yes," the boy replied, voice low and full of conviction. "I could have killed Jin-e, I could have killed Saitou, I could have even killed Shishio. That's what I am."

"So you _could_ have done it, but Kenshin stopped you," Yahiko said with his mouth full.

Battousai locked eyes with Kaoru again, and she felt a little jolt of adrenaline at the memory of Jin-e, the moment she'd broken his shin-no-ippo, and stopped Battousai from killing.

"I got it," Sano declared. "Put Kenshin back in there, then find some bad guy you want to kill, and at the last second, pop! Kenshin will take over, just like the other times. Then, just stay as Kenshin, the way you were before."

Battousai turned his head slowly and stared at Sano through half-closed eyes.

"What?" Sano asked, taking offense. "Don't you think that will work? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Seems like a pretty good plan to me," Yahiko announced. "Where is Kenshin, anyway? Is he floating around in here somewhere?"

Kaoru and Battousai thought about it for a minute. "He's here," they said in unison.

"Oi, Kenshin!" Yahiko called out. "Try and like, merge yourself in with yourself here."

Kaoru made a face. "What, right here in the kitchen?"

"What's wrong with the kitchen?" Yahiko asked.

"You rather they try it at a shrine or a temple or something?" Sano wondered.

"No, I just... it seems..." Kaoru shook her head. "Nevermind." She sat up a little straighter. "Go ahead."

"Oro?" Kenshin gulped and looked back and forth from Kaoru-dono to his younger self. They seemed very aware of each other now, and less focused on him, which was incredibly worrisome. Last night, Battousai had been perfectly agreeable to the idea of re-combining with Kenshin and submerging as the non-dominant personality—but did he still feel the same way now?

And how was a ghost supposed to go about 'merging' with a physical body anyway? Was it as simple as taking up the same space?

With everyone in the room waiting expectantly, Kenshin decided there was only one way to find out.

* * *

to be continued...


	7. Chapter 7: cheers to the bakumatsu

Chapter 7: Cheers to the Bakumatsu

* * *

Kenshin paced around the room, wondering how to do it. He considered charging at the little hitokiri and just jumping at him, hoping he'd stick to him instead of traveling through. But that also seemed too much like an attack.

Deciding on a less dynamic approach, he paused behind the boy, knelt down, and touched him on the shoulder. After hesitating for a just a split second, Kenshin pressed his hand farther down—and watched uncomfortably as his hand moved through the imperceptible layer of fabric, into the murkier layer of skin and muscle, and then the even denser realm of bone.

" _It_..." Battousai flinched and rolled his shoulder, and Kenshin felt the boy's shoulder blade churn through his palm like a paddle through water.

"What's wrong?" Kaoru asked immediately.

"Nothing," Battousai replied. "Just feels strange."

Kenshin narrowed his eyes and kept going, reaching down towards the boy's hand.

"... _Cold_ ," Battousai muttered, his eyes tracing the ghostly feeling that was moving down his arm.

To Kenshin, it felt the opposite—he was aware of a warm haziness beginning to cling to his arm, as if he were reaching through a warm cloud. With that thought on his mind, he leaned forward just as the boy jerked back—and Kenshin found himself looking out at the world through Battousai's eyes.

"Clouds," Battousai blurted out, sounding surprised.

"What? Did you say 'clouds'?" Kaoru asked.

"He... thinks it feels like clouds."

Megumi leaned in, fascinated. "The feeling of a spirit entering a physical body?" she clarified. " _Clouds_? That's how Ken-san describes it?"

"I guess," Battousai frowned, disliking everyone's increased attention. He lifted his elbow away from his side, looked at it disdainfully. "His arm's kind of... in my arm, and he thinks it feels like clouds."

"Poetic," Kaoru deemed.

"Feh!" Sano stuck his chin in the air. "That does sound like Kenshin. Pretty words for everything."

"But what do clouds feel like?" Yahiko demanded.

"Ehh, soft? Sort of...fluffy?" Sano guessed.

"They probably feel more like mist," Megumi informed them.

Kenshin shifted forward a little more, still reaching for Battousai's hand with his own. He felt his spine align with the boy's, overlapping it and then being pulled into place, like two magnets finding each other and clicking together.

Battousai sat up a little straighter, and then winced in pain. "My neck," he said in response to Kaoru's startled look. "It was fractured once. I think I'm feeling... all the injuries... a little."

"Look, his face!" Yahiko pointed. "You can see the scar, almost—sort of—I definitely saw it for a second!"

 _That must mean this is working_ , Kenshin thought grimly. He almost had it now, each of his limbs in the right place, bones almost perfectly matched up—he slipped his hands into Battousai's as if into a pair of slightly-too-small gloves, and felt the same sort of electric pulse as earlier when his foot had twitched.

" _Rgh_ ," Battousai grit his teeth, looking at his hands. "I don't like this."

Kenshin tried to move his hands, to open his fingers, but the boy fought him and clenched his hands into fists instead.

On his cheek, as everyone watched, the famous scar appeared. It seemed fainter than usual, as if you might only be able to see it from a certain angle, or in a certain light.

"I imagine it feels terrible," Megumi said in sympathy. "Having to experience the cumulative effects of fifteen years of battles, added to your body all at once."

"I was hardly ever injured until I met you guys," Battousai grumbled.

"Battles with hunger and the elements take their toll as well," Megumi reminded him.

Yahiko decided to chime in. "Yeah, you _were_ basically homeless for a decade."

"Even _I_ have never been that bad off," Sano commented.

"I was _wandering._ And if you're all so critical of its effect on my health, maybe I'll just go wandering again."

Kaoru and Megumi looked at each other, thinking the same thing. Megumi folded her arms. "That sounds like the logic of a teenager," she said in her best tolerating-non-of-your-nonsense voice. "You've got the scar now, but where is Ken-san?"

 _I'm here,_ Kenshin thought, watching all this from Battousai's eyes.

"He's here," Battousai said, tapping the side of his head.

"So," Kaoru asked carefully, "Can you... switch back?"

Battousai sighed and stood up, and Kenshin found himself along for the ride—a sensation that made them both feel a little disoriented.

"Ugh," the boy said, staggering. He found his balance and then shook one of his feet a little, the way a cat might if it stepped in something wet. "I hate this. He's slowing me down."

"Just give it time," Megumi advised. "I'm sure you'll get used to it."

"Hang in there, Kenshin!" Yahiko called in encouragement, which earned him a slightly amber-eyed glare in response.

"Where are you going?" Kaoru asked.

"To get dressed," Battousai grumbled over his shoulder, and stalked away.

Once he was gone, the members of the Kenshin-gumi looked at each other. "This is good, right?" Yahiko wondered aloud. "Both parts of his soul or whatever are in one body now, aren't they?"

"It would seem so," said Megumi.

Sano shoved his hands into his pockets. "But the wrong one's still in charge. So what about my idea from earlier? You guys wanna go for it?"

"You mean dredging up some sinister criminal for Battousai to kill, and hoping Kenshin will stop him at the last second?" Megumi asked.

Sano completely missed the edge in her voice. "Yeah, exactly!"

"Worst idea I have ever heard," Megumi said primly.

"What?" Sano puffed up, offended. "What's wrong with it? Knowing Kenshin, it's bound to work!"

"It's too dangerous," Kaoru spoke up. "Kenshin told me himself he might not be able to stop Battousai from killing now. Of course, I told him it would be _my_ job to stop him, but..."

" _Kaoru_ would stop him?" Yahiko was aghast. "Like, how? By throwing yourself in front of the dude he's trying to kill? Wow." The sarcasm rolled from his voice. " _That_ sure sounds like a good strategy. No risk of tragedy there."

Kaoru smacked her student on the back of the head. "Yahiko, you stupid! I'm not going to let him kill me, all right? Like I told Megumi-san a while ago, I absolutely won't die for Kenshin. Because if I die, he'll be sad."

Sano shrugged. "Can't argue with that."

"But there was always some kind of life-or-death thing involved when Kenshin turned back into Battousai," Yahiko pointed out. "Shouldn't we need the same kind of situation now, to turn him back into Kenshin?"

"Oh ho," Megumi gave a little laugh into her hand. "Maybe not." They all turned to look at her. "I just had a thought. Normal life," Megumi said. "Not life-or-death. Everyday, normal, peaceful living. Let's give that a try. That's what Kenshin wants, isn't it? Maybe that's how we can get him to emerge as the stronger personality."

"Heh," Sano grinned. "I get it. Give it a few days and see Battou-brat try to slay the laundry tub. That red-haired punk won't last a week doing Kenshin's chores."

* * *

Later that day, Kaoru decided to put the plan into action.

"Excuse me?" she knocked on the door frame, shinai in hand. "Can I come in?"

"...No," came the sulky voice from inside Kenshin's room.

"Very well, I'll just talk to you from here," Kaoru announced. She set the tip of the shinai against the floor, and folded her hands over the end of the hilt, striking an officious pose. "I'm here to talk about chores."

Silence.

"I hope you won't mind helping out around the house with everything Kenshin is supposed to do. Especially since you're our Kenshin now, whether you like it or not." She paused for a response and received none, so she took a breath and continued. "I'm sure you remember where everything is, so you can get started any time. And, when you're done, you can sweep up."

"No," said his voice again.

"What was that?" Kaoru cocked her ear towards the door.

"I said no," the boy repeated.

Kaoru threw the door open and stomped in, shinai quivering in her fist.

His wide-eyed expression was almost as good as Kenshin's.

"I _knew_ you needed an attitude adjustment," Kaoru declared, squaring off against her victim.

"A what?" he asked, voice flat.

"Prepare yourself! Yaaa!"

It was an excellently executed strike—of that, Kaoru was sure. What she _wasn't_ sure of was how, in a swish of motion too fast to see, she wound up on her back on the floor, with a very rude foot compressing her sternum.

" _Nmh_!" she whimpered, squinting against the sudden twinge of pain. She was still holding her shinai—but so was he, having caught the bamboo sword about halfway down.

She looked up, her eyes blazing, surprised by her failure but hardly deterred from her mission of thrashing him. She pulled down on the shinai with all her might, and as he began to pull back, she let go.

Anyone else in that position probably would have wound up with the tip of the shinai smashing them in the eye, or at least been totally thrown off balance. But Battousai corrected in time, flung the shinai aside, and stepped down harder on her chest.

" _Rrgh!_ If you're going to give me your foot," Kaoru wheezed, "...I'll use it!"

She trapped his ankle between her crossed forearms and rolled—her knee caught the back of his knee, and down he went. She thought she heard him cuss under his breath, but didn't have time to gloat, because he hit the ground already rolling over his shoulder to get back to his feet. As Kaoru scrambled to get up he stepped in, folded her knee over his own in the same move she'd used on him—and took her back down to the floor. He stepped around her as she fell, which gave her the opportunity to aim a kick somewhere below the neatly-tied straps of his hakama.

He dodged it, barely. She hit the floor with a " _Mmfh!_ "

"Careful," he warned, but stepped back.

Panting, disheveled, she propped herself on one elbow, looked up at his frigid expression, and giggled. "That was fun!" she panted. Her eyes sparkled. "You almost wrestled with me!"

"I didn't, and I wouldn't. You fight dirty."

"Dirty? For one kick? You stepped on my chest! It hurt!"

He looked away. "Sorry," he offered.

She pulled herself into a sitting position, smoothing her hair away from her face. "I'm fine. And if you think you've avoided being thrashed, think again. I'm going to pummel you."

Battousai shook his head, and then brought his hands up to hold the sides of his head, digging his fingers into his hair.

"She's reckless," he muttered, and squeezed his eyes shut. "I know she's not afraid. I _know_ I could've hurt her. Just shut up."

Kaoru frowned. "Are you talking to Kenshin?" she guessed correctly.

Battousai sat down against the wall, hands still clutching his head. "I can hear all his thoughts now, and I'm getting sick of ' _this one_ ' in my head," he grumbled. "He's driving me crazy."

"I thought you were always aware of his thoughts, before. Why is it different now?"

"We weren't separate people before. I mean, we _were_ , but, it's not like we spoke to each other. It was him or me, not both of us." Battousai slid his hands down his face and let them fall to the floor. "How to explain it..." he looked over at her, and cocked his head. "What kind of person were you, when you were fourteen?"

"eh? Me?" the question caught her off guard, and she blinked at him for a minute while she tried to recall. "Well, let me see...that was only three years ago..."

"But surely you're not the same person now, as you were then."

Kaoru smiled. "No, I'm not," she agreed. "Back then, I had just started to get really good at kenjutsu. We had about a dozen students, including a few boys my age, and I began to train really hard. And my father was..." her eyes suddenly filled with happy tears. "My father was proud of me. He told me that maybe the next year, I could become the assistant master of the dojo. So I worked hard every day."

She wiped at her eyes, and Battousai shifted uncomfortably.

"I didn't mean to make you sad," he said awkwardly. "If you don't want to talk about it..."

"No, silly," she sniffed. "These are happy tears, for good memories. Well, mostly good. There were a few other girls in town who didn't like me back then, because the boys started to notice me, and I had just gotten a new kimono—and these girls liked to whisper about how 'unfeminine' I was. So I punched one of them in the mouth!"

"That—that _does_ seem like something you would do," Battousai muttered, sweating a little.

"Does it?" Kaoru asked, smiling. "Anyway, my father wasn't impressed. I got in a lot of trouble for it, and lost some friends. But I kept training. I had just started to get some confidence in my looks, too, as a young woman." She blushed at the memory, checked Battousai for a reaction, and was delighted to see a little blush appear on his face as well. "So anyway, that's who I was when I was fourteen."

"Can you imagine meeting her now, as if she were a separate person?" Battousai asked.

Kaoru thought about it. "I suppose that would be difficult," she conceded. "Back then I thought the world revolved around me, all my tiny problems were all dire emergencies, and I was a little fanatical about training. I think those attitudes would aggravate me now."

Battousai sighed. "Well, if you can imagine being trapped inside that girl's head..."

"Yes, that would probably drive me a little crazy." She smiled. "So that's what it's like for you and Kenshin now... Thanks for explaining it."

"...You're welcome," he said, as if not quite sure if he was expected to.

"And, I'm sorry about the chores," Kaoru said. "But, since you're staying here, you _do_ have to help out."

"Fine. I'll do the shopping."

Kaoru beamed at him. "Thank you."

"Can I bring my sword?" he met her eyes.

"Nope."

"Kenshin always brings his," Battousai pointed out.

"Too bad," Kaoru said, getting to her feet. "No swords for you. But, you can bring something a little safer."

"Like what?" the boy asked, not liking the sudden light of inspiration in her eyes.

"Like Sanosuke."

* * *

"Let me get this straight, Jou-chan," Sano drawled, a disgusting fish bone protruding from his mouth. "You want _me,_ to protect _him?_ "

Battousai stared at the ground, unwilling to participate in this discussion.

"Mou, Sano, just go with him," Kaoru urged. "Keep an eye on him. Make sure nobody in town messes with him, please."

"What's in it for me?" Sano asked, folding his arms.

"For goodness sakes, he's going out to buy food, which you _know_ you'll end up eating with us," Kaoru reminded the former fighter-for-hire, starting to feel annoyed by his lack of cooperation. "For _free_."

"Yeah but, I'm sure he can handle it on his own. And look at his face; with the scar showing he's basically Kenshin now anyway. Nobody's going to mess with him."

"Sanosuke, go," Megumi ordered, pointing at the gate.

"I'm _going_ , sheesh! Don't boss me around, woman!" Sano huffed, but was already striding towards the gate. With slumped shoulders and without any words of parting, Battousai shuffled after him.

"This sucks," Sano muttered, glancing sideways at his sullen companion. "I can't believe they're making us hang out together. After you said I _stink,_ "

"You still do," the boy muttered.

"Then hurry up and wash my clothes, you red-haired housewife," Sano leered at him, proud of his insult. "This outfit actually hasn't been washed for most of a month already."

"Awful," the boy said softly.

They made it to town, and Battousai took an unexpected right turn.

"Whoa now," Sano called to him. "You lost? Market's this way."

"Sake is this way," Battousai informed him, and looked up into Sano's suddenly very surprised eyes. "You coming?"

Surprise gave way to mischievous delight. "Hell yeah, if you're buying!"

The shopkeeper of the little tavern had seen Himura Kenshin around the town a few times before, but if he noticed the swordsman's changed demeanor, he was unfazed by it. "Can I help you?"

"Sake please," the boy requested, and then thought of something. He dug into his pocket, came up with coins. "That is, if you'll accept the old currency."

The shopkeeper shrugged. "Tokugawa money, Meiji money, no difference to me. As long as you're paying the tab for your friend Zanza too."

"I'm just Sagara Sanosuke now, sheesh!" Sano huffed. "After all the thugs I got rid of for you back in the day, where's the respect?"

"Half those thugs were my regular customers, and you drank more than all of them combined, Zanza!" the shopkeeper scolded.

"It's not 'Zanza'! Get that through your thick head!" Sano protested.

"Names are hard to wash off," Battousai said, in a certain Kenshin-like way that immediately calmed Sano down. The boy turned to the shopkeeper with his handful of coins. "And anyway, I'll pay his tab."

The man looked at the money and nodded. "Yeah, I can exchange that for Meiji yen, no problem."

"We're drinking it by the bottle," Sano warned. "And directly _from_ the bottle, actually. Don't bother with dishes."

The shopkeeper shrugged. "You got it. Plenty of sake, coming right up."

They each downed a small bottle right off the bat, and reached for a second.

"Old coins, eh?" Sano remarked after a while, studying the boy across the table with a fresh level of suspicion. "Where'd you get those?"

"They were in my pocket."

"Just jangling around? Not very stealthy."

"No, they were in my wallet."

"But, where'd that money come from?" Sano asked, and seemed to think he was asking a very serious question. "The _past_ , right? Obviously. So... are you sure you're not... a _time traveler_?"

A time traveler was clearly one of the most horrifying things that Sanosuke had ever heard of.

The boy shrugged. "Who knows," he replied, and took a long swig of sake. "But if I was, I would travel to a time when I didn't have to smell you."

"Heh heh heh," Sano chuckled. "Sake makes you funny." His eyes acquired a dangerous glint. "And makes me want to punch you."

"Be my guest," Battousai offered, emptying the last of the second bottle into his mouth. "Whether I get blackout-drunk or you knock me out, either way maybe I'll get to stop listening to 'this one' thinking in my head."

"Kenshin's thinking in your head?" Sano asked, confused, and then leaned forward, searching Battousai's face. "And, were you serious? You want me to hit you?"

The boy shrugged, not meeting Sano's gaze. "Let me get a little drunker first, then go right ahead. ' _This one'_ is yelling at me that you shouldn't do it, so, whatever. Go for it."

"Hmm," Sano paused. "Why do you hate Kenshin so much?"

"What?"

"I said, why d'you hate him? Are you jealous of him?"

The shopkeeper set four more bottles on the table, and Battousai reached for one of them. "How can I be jealous of myself? That doesn't make sense."

"Sure it does. I think about 'Zanza', all the fun fights I bought back then, the people it felt really good to beat up, and, I can't do that stuff anymore, so, I'm jealous."

"No, you're just..." he searched for the word. "Nostalgic. You miss the life you enjoyed in the past. That's not a problem for me, at all."

Sano pondered the smooth exterior of another bottle of sake, and then upended it into his mouth. "Maybe you miss the life you enjoy in the future. That is, the present," Sano theorized. "That's why you're such a prick. I think you should fight me."

"Bare-handed?" Battousai asked.

"You brought money with you, didn't you bring anything else useful? Like some ninja stars, or a waka... waki..."

"Wakazashi."

"I know what it's called," Sano grumped, offended.

Battousai sighed. "No, I didn't bring that. It's not like I went through the closet and packed for the trip; I just showed up. And why would I have ninja stars? That makes no sense."

"Why would you have _money?_ "

"I got paid _,_ you know. I didn't do it for the salary, but, they paid me. I always had at least enough money to get drunk."

"And _laid_?" Sano asked, as this subject inevitably came up after enough alcohol was in his system.

"No, just drunk," Battousai said with nearly Kenshin-level patience. "I was just a kid."

"No you weren't," Sano said, and the gravity in his voice make the boy look up and meet his eyes.

"You're right... I wasn't," he agreed softly.

They each finished their third bottle, and paused a moment to let the alcohol catch up.

"Wait a minute..." Sano thought of something. "Does this mean, you and I are sitting here, ten years into the Meiji jidai, and we're drinking with the actual money you earned from whacking people? Blood money from the revolution?"

"I guess so," Battousai said, and started his fourth bottle with indifference. "Except... this is Meiji year eleven."

Sano thought about that long and hard for a moment, and then gave up. "Feh, who's counting, anyway?" he asked, and then raised his bottle in a toast. "Cheers to the Bakumatsu."

Battousai blinked, then raised his bottle also. "...cheers," he said, and drank deep.

* * *

...to be continued!


	8. Chapter 8: forgiveness

Chapter 8: forgiveness

* * *

An hour passed, and then another, and afternoon became early evening. The shopkeeper's wife returned from an errand, and immediately expressed concern about the number of empty bottles piling up around the two drinkers.

"I'm getting worried about our customers," the wife whispered to her husband. "The tall one looks like he can handle it, but the little one?" she glanced urgently at the person in question, the pale face under the red bangs, the brevity of his movements. "Where is he putting it? He's going to get sick any moment now!"

 _Do you hear that?_ Kenshin asked himself urgently. _She's right. Stop this now, or you're going to get sick._

 _Shut up,_ Battousai thought back at him, reaching determinedly for the innocuous little bottle.

"You know," he said to Sanosuke, "There's something else I brought, besides money."

Sano tilted his head, intrigued, and Battousai reached into his pocket, bringing out the note.

"What's that?" Sano asked.

"It's a 'traitor-elimination' letter. I'd leave one behind when I killed someone. I think it's blank because I don't know who I'm supposed to kill next."

 _No one,_ Kenshin insisted inside his head. _You kill no one ever again_.

 _No, that's YOU,_ Battousai thought back at him. _Ever since you lef_ _t you_ _r sword behind, you have kept me in the back of your mind. When you were angry, or afraid for your friends, I would get close to the surface—So I could kill again, if you had to. I would do it, not you._ "I think, if I faced an enemy who needed to be killed, a name would appear on this note. Until such an enemy appears, the note is blank."

"It's not blank," Sano pointed out.

"What?" the boy blinked at the paper, startled to see the black ink that had not been there before. He unfolded it with unsteady hands. "It says, 'heaven wills it,' the name _Kiyosato_... and an address."

"Lemme see." Sano grabbed the note and studied it for three times as long as it should have taken. "oh, I know where that is," he realized at last. "Wanna go check it out?"

 _No,_ Battousai thought. _I don't want to._ _Never want to._ _But always do it. Have to do it._

Battousai's thoughts, Kenshin noted, were definitely under the influence. Slower, sadder, blurry.

 _That's the point,_ Battousai chided, in response to Kenshin's observation. _The point of drinking. To...get drunk._

 _Alright then, you're drunk_ , Kenshin confirmed. _Now stop. How drunk do you need to be?_ Without waiting for an answer, Kenshin fought for control of his limbs again, and managed to knock the sake bottle over.

It made a little _clonk!_ and a sip or two spilled out onto the table—and this was all the signal that the shopkeeper needed.

"Okay, gentlemen," he announced, coming over. "I think you've had enough."

"Damn you," Battousai muttered, probably to Kenshin.

The shopkeeper's tone was one of stern apology. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Why'szat?" Sano asked, slurring his words a bit. "We're just getting started."

"Unfortunately, you're worrying my wife," the shopkeeper said, turning a bit to one side so they could see the woman who'd been standing behind him. The wife gave a little bow.

"Ehh, whatever," Sano said, standing up. "C'mon, Kenshin."

The boy looked up at him strangely.

"What's th'matter?" Sano asked.

"Nothing," Battousai replied. "Let's go".

They made it out into the street, trying their best to keep the ground from tipping away from their feet. "Hoh, we might've overdone it," Sano realized, swaying. "Wanna try and get those groceries now? Not sure when the market closes, but it's probably soon. Hate to bring you back to Jou-chan all empty-handed. And the town's never seen a drunk Kenshin before. Things could get interesting."

"Is it... Kenshin?" Battousai mumbled.

"What?" Sano asked.

"Are you talking to him now?"

"Aw, you're wasted-you're not making any sense!" Sano went to throw a comradely arm over his drinking buddy's shoulders, which of course Battousai dodged at the last second, leaving Sano to fall flat on his face.

"Get up," Battousai instructed. "I'm not going to carry you."

Sano looked utterly bewildered. "Carry me?" he repeated, and confusion gave way to annoyance. "Hah. You couldn't if you tried. You drunk little imperialist- _Carry me_ , feh! I'll carry _you!_ "

"I thought you were going to punch me," Battousai recalled, swaying a little.

"Sure thing. One punch, coming right up," Sano promised. "Just stand still."

"I'm trying," Battousai confessed, but the alcohol in his blood and the rotation of the earth seemed to be conspiring against him. He shifted his weight, impatient. This was his ticket out of consciousness, he hoped.

 _Just let me,_ Kenshin pleaded in his head. _Just let me..._

He was aware of Sano getting to his feet, drawing back his fist. Battousai closed his eyes, thought, _finally,_ and blacked out.

"Sano, wait!" Kenshin cried out, flinching in anticipation of the impact. Sano's fist whooshed by the side of Kenshin's face, missing him by millimeters, and Kenshin caught Sano around the middle as he fell forward.

"It's me," Kenshin said, helping the former fighter-for-hire regain his balance.

"Kenshin?" Sano asked, blinking at him. "It's really you?" He clapped his arm down around Kenshin's shoulders, just to be sure. Kenshin didn't mind that a bit, and nodded up at his friend, eyes much brighter and _purpler_ than they had been a moment before. Sano's face broke out into a huge grin. "It IS you!" he realized. "So, what happened to Battousai?"

"He passed out," Kenshin explained. "I think it was a combination of the alcohol and convincing himself that you were about to hit him."

"Oh. Well, glad I could help," Sano said. "Does this mean it's over? You're back in charge, and Battousai's just a bad mood you get sometimes?"

Kenshin shook his head, and pulled the note from his pocket again. "There's still this."

"Right. Kiyosato... Kiyosato...I've heard that name somewhere."

"Tomoe's fiance."

"Right, that was it. So, is that his address? But why would Battousai have to go there? No offense, but, the dude's been dead for a while."

Kenshin had been wondering the very same thing. "Tomoe's family was from Edo, and so her childhood sweetheart, Kiyosato Akira, must have been from Edo as well," he reasoned. "Perhaps some of his family still lives here."

"Hnnn... you thinking of goin'? To the address on that little paper?"

Kenshin nodded.

"Might be a bad idea," Sano cautioned. "Visiting families of your, the, your, what's the word..."

"Victims," Kenshin supplied quietly.

"Yeah, bad idea. What if one of 'em wants revenge on you?"

Kenshin sighed and looked off into the distance. "That's why I never tried it," he said softly. "For a while I thought of going around to find the families, to apologize. But if they'd wanted me dead, I couldn't have obliged them, since I'd already decided to stay alive. So I would have just stirred up their anger and grief for nothing. That's why I decided not to seek them out."

"But you're going to that address?"

Kenshin looked down at the paper. "It's a clue to the mystery. I have to see where it leads."

"Alright!" Sano declared. "Let's see, the taikobashi is that way, and the cloth merchants, that way, so... this way! Let's go, Kenshin!"

At the first step he took, Kenshin wobbled. "Oro?" He took another stumbling step forward, and had to put his hand out to steady himself against a wall.

"You okay?" Sano asked, looking back.

"This body-" Kenshin realized. "My consciousness wasn't affected, but my body, at the moment, is drunk. It's almost as if..." he thought about it for a moment, and then decided to try an experiment. He studied his hand, and made an effort to separate it from the flesh and bones it was currently occupying. Sure enough, Battousai's hand fell away, limp, and Kenshin was able to raise his ghostly hand in front of his face.

To Sano this just looked like Kenshin's arm had suddenly gone numb, and dropped to his side.

"Oh no," Kenshin muttered. "It's as I feared. I'm... still a ghost."

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean I could still step out of this body," Kenshin tried to explain. "I thought I was attached, but I'm not."

"Step out?" Sano asked. "I don't get it. Is it something you can show me?"

"Probably," Kenshin said. "Here, I'll try it." He thought about it, and willed himself to step forward, away from the body of his hitokiri self.

Sure enough, Battousai crumpled to the ground, unconscious, leaving Kenshin-the-ghost standing in the street, invisible once again.

"Shit!" Sano gasped, dropping to his knees beside Battousai. "Kenshin! Oi! Wake up!"

The boy's eyes creased open, just a slit. "Leave m'lone," he slurred, and then twitched a bit, and opened his eyes as Kenshin once again.

"See?" Kenshin asked, sitting up. "When this body fell over just now, _I_ was still standing up, right here. As a separate spirit."

Sano's face was whiter than his outfit. "Are you telling me that you're basically just _possessing_ that body!?" Sano demanded. "That's, that's... it's creepy, okay? Could you do it to anyone? Or just him?"

"I'm not sure," Kenshin admitted.

"Try it," Sano urged. "Try it with me."

Kenshin looked at him incredulously. "Really? That thought doesn't scare you?"

"Of course it scares me," Sanosuke said. "But, it might be important to know if you can do it. Like, if you're separated from Battousai, and have to fight him, you might need to take over somebody else's body to be able to hold a sword, right?"

"I hadn't thought of that," Kenshin said, taken aback.

"Obviously I'm not swordsman," Sano continued, "and my right hand's still a mess, but I guess I could hold a sword—and if you could use your hiten mitsuryugi sort of, you know, _through me_ , we might have a chance against him, right?"

"I don't know," Kenshin said solemnly. "Hopefully it won't come to that."

"Well, it can't hurt to try it beforehand, just in case. And, how bad can it be? It's just _you_."

"Right," Kenshin agreed, a little uneasily. "Just me." He scooted backwards so he could leave his body slumped against a wall instead of on his face in the street, and reached towards Sano with incorporeal hands.

Sanosuke watched as the light went out from those amethyst eyes, the scar vanished from the face, and the red-haired head dropped forward. Then something cold began to move through Sano's chest.

" _AAaaagk!_ " Sano screamed and reeled backwards. "Stop, stop, _stop!_ I change my mind! This is way too creepy for me." He put his bandaged right hand over his pounding heart, relieved that it was beating, and the cold feeling was gone.

"Sorry," Kenshin said, waking up once again in more-or-less his own body. Then he chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Sano asked, even though he had a pretty good idea.

"Nothing," Kenshin said. "Just... you screamed."

"I think you're allowed to scream when a ghost is trying to take over your body and scaring you half to death," Sano defended himself. "But, if you tell anybody, I'll break your face."

"I'll keep that in mind," Kenshin said, smiling. He got back to his feet with a weary sigh, the world still reeling around him.

"Do you still want to visit the Kiyosato place? Even if your body's drunk?" Sano asked, standing up beside him.

Kenshin nodded. "It might be my only chance."

* * *

They found the house as the sun was setting, a quiet place with a tall, crumbling wall demarcating the boundary of the property. There had once been a gate, but it was missing now, and the broad path leading from the street to the house was overgrown. With a final glance at one another to confirm that they were really doing this, Kenshin and Sano made their way up to the front step.

"Hello?" Sano called out. "Is anyone home?"

After a moment, the door opened a few inches, and a middle-aged woman in a plain brown kimono peered out. "Can I help you?" she asked warily.

"Yeah, is this the Kiyosato residence?" Sano asked.

"It used to be," the woman replied, her voice softening. "But there is only a widow here now. I'm afraid the name _Kiyosato_ died with my husband and sons."

"Ah—I think I have to talk to you," Kenshin said awkwardly.

"Why? Who are you?" the woman asked, not at all sure what to make of this strange pair of people at her door.

"Sagara Sanosuke and Himura Kenshin, pleased to meet you," Sano told her.

"I'm sorry, but, was your younger son a member of the Mimawarigumi, in Kyoto?" Kenshin asked.

She looked him over, and Kenshin saw the recognition stirring in her eyes as she realized what she was seeing, the description that was as much a part of the legend as the name. Kenshin found himself almost reciting it with her as it surfaced in her memory.

 _Akai kami, hidari hoho ni juu ji kizu._

"Yes," the woman said breathlessly, her grip tightening on the side of the door. "Yes, he was. But he died, fifteen years ago."

"I know," Kenshin said. "You see, I'm, I'm actually the,"

" _Hitokiri Battousai_ ," she finished for him, and then opened the door the rest of the way. "I'm so glad to meet you. Please, come inside."

The house was clean and somewhat empty, as if most of the furniture had been sold away. The only decoration that had been spared was a simple ink painting hanging in an alcove, depicting a beautiful white crane, wings spread.

The mother of Kiyosato Akira settled her unexpected guests on zabutons and brought them tea, a handful of tiny mannerisms giving her away as someone who grew up in a nearly-extinct culture of art and courtesy.

"I've never been a guest in a house like this before," Sano muttered to Kenshin. "Am I doing anything rude?"

Their hostess returned to the room, and they straightened up, both feeling more than a little out-of-place.

"You can relax," the widow said with a smile. "I know I'm old-fashioned, but I don't want you to be uncomfortable. Please do as you like."

"Uh, okay," Sano said, interpreting that as permission to slouch. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," she said kindly. She followed Kenshin's gaze to the painting. "I see you've noticed the crane. Tell me, what do you think of it?"

"Looks kind of like a kid drew it," Sano blurted out.

"So it does," the woman smiled. "Many years ago, a little girl painted that for me. Her family lived nearby, and she came here often. She was my Akira's dearest friend."

" _Oh_ ," Kenshin said softly, his voice hitching.

The widow sipped her tea, and set the cup back down with impeccable precision.

"I never found out what happened after Akira went to Kyoto," she said. "I heard a rumor of who had killed him, but nothing more. And then, my firstborn son was killed in the fighting, and when the Shogun fell, my husband took his own life as honor demanded. I thought there was no such thing as happiness in the world anymore, but I lived on, because I had one other person who needed me: our third child, our daughter."

She paused for another sip of tea. "All through these difficult years, I had one name to attach to all my grief, one person that I could blame for starting my family on our path of tragedy. I thought I would be haunted by that name until my death. But a few days ago, my daughter had a baby—my first grandchild. And when I held that new life in my arms, I realized what I had to do."

She paused again, smiled at Kenshin with her eyes, and continued.

"Have you heard the old superstition, that cranes grant wishes? I had never asked for anything before. But when my grandson was born, I sat right here, and I made a wish: I wished to meet the hitokiri Battousai."

Sano had been mesmerized by the story, and at that revelation, he almost dropped his teacup. Fortunately he caught it in time.

Kenshin took a breath, looked up at the crane. The brush strokes did seem simple, but also graceful, benevolent. Auspicious. Without hesitation, Kenshin placed his hands on the tatami, and bowed his head low to Kiyosato Akira's mother. "For taking the life of your son," he said, "and the lives of many others... I apologize."

"And I forgive you."

His shoulders tensed. " _What?_ "

"Raise your head," the woman said kindly, inadvertently using the phrase the upper class had always used when addressing the lower. "I said, I forgive you. That's what I realized I had to do."

Kenshin looked up, lost. "Thank you for your kindness," he said solemnly. "But... that's impossible. If you had seen the way...the way it happened, there's no way you could ever, ever..."

"Tell me," the widow said. "Please. After all these years, I would like to know once and for all how my son Akira died."

There was a long pause, like the silence after a single beat of a drum.

"He died...crying."

That single word filled the room with a tremulous energy. It would have been more than enough to shake an average person, and even Sanosuke felt unnerved, but this woman seemed to be made of iron. And so Kenshin went on. "...he died _crying_ , because he wanted to live. Your son had the strongest desire to live that I ever encountered. Even mortally wounded, he refused to give up."

Kenshin paused to take stock of the effect that this information was having on the dead man's mother. But even as she pictured her son fighting for his life, she retained her composure. "I see," she said stoically. "Did he suffer long?"

"No. It was over in a moment, and," Kenshin brought his hand up, traced the path of the first scar. "He gave me this."

Her eyes widened. "Really?" she asked. "My son did that?"

Kenshin nodded. "The second cut," -he traced the shorter line- "was made by the one who painted that crane."

"Tomoe-chan," the woman whispered, and at last, tears welled up in her eyes. "So, she found you after all. I'm glad. I always wondered if that had been her goal." She raised her hand, tentatively. "May I?"

Kenshin turned his head, and let her reach out and touch the last mark her son had made.

"It's fitting," she decided, "for Akira and Tomoe-chan to be memorialized together in this way. But I think it is time, now, for even this to heal."

For a slow second, she pressed her palm to his cheek in maternal familiarity, as if she had known him his whole life. Then she lifted her hand away.

She smiled, and instantly dissolved the somber mood in the room. "I've said what I needed to say, and I think I've kept you long enough. Your family must want you home for dinner."

"Shit, the groceries," Sano muttered, his stomach giving a well-timed rumble.

"Groceries?" the woman asked, looking up at Sano. "You wouldn't be interested in some yams and sweet potatoes, would you?"

"Why, you selling 'em?" Sano asked, seeming very interested indeed.

She shook her head. "Giving them away, at the moment. I've a whole little field of them; far more than I can use. I'd be happy if they went to good use. Please, take as many as you like, as a symbol of good will."

* * *

"... _That_ was definitely not what I expected," Sano commented to Kenshin as they were halfway back down the road. "I mean, I can't believe we found that guy's mom. Right here in Tokyo all along! It sure is a small world. And you know what else is strange? Think about it... you, me, Yahiko and even the girls—all of us have lost our mothers, and yet, there are probably mothers like that one all around us."

"That's true," Kenshin mused. "I'm afraid there must be thousands of mothers like her, who have lived through the tragedy of losing their children. Especially all the mothers of those who died for the revolution. I'm sure I created at least a hundred such grieving mothers."

"Hey now, don't go getting all gloomy on me," Sano warned. "That was a pretty cool thing that just happened. That lady straight-up _forgave_ you for killing her kid."

Kenshin was quiet for a long moment. "...I never thought something like that would happen," he said at last. "I never thought it would be possible."

"But, you're _happy_ about it, right?"

"I don't know," Kenshin replied honestly. "It's too generous a gift."

"Kind of like all these yams, eh?" Sano shifted the sack slung over his shoulder. Kenshin smiled.

"Right," he said softly, appreciating Sano's efforts, however unintentional, to keep him from getting lost in his own thoughts. Speaking of which-

Kenshin stopped abruptly. "Oh no," he said. "I think I'm-"

"Awake," Battousai finished, taking over his speech in a slightly flatter, duller tone. His eyes darted to Sanosuke in confusion. "Where am I?" he asked, and staggered. "What happened?" he considered the bundle in his arms. "...Why do I have a sack of potatoes?"

"Welcome back," Sano said dryly. "You were out of it for a while. You feeling okay?"

"No," Battousai admitted. "Had a dream. White wings... a crane."

Sano sighed. "Let's just get you back to Jou-chan. I'll explain there."

* * *

to be continued!


	9. Chapter 9: a little late-night kendo

Chapter 9: a little late-night kendo

* * *

It was dark by the time they made it back to the Kamiya dojo, and the house was quiet.

A little too quiet.

"Oi, we're home!" Sano announced.

Inside the darkened dojo, a shadowy figure tightened its grip on the wooden sword in its hands, and then turned and took one weighty _thud_ of a step forward, revealing itself in the doorway.

" _Welcome back_ ," she recited, voice black as night. " _You're late._ " She took another step, and the stomp of her foot sent a shiver of doom through the floorboards.

It was not a tone of voice that Sano had ever heard her use before. He tipped his head to one side, squinting at the shadowy figure. "Kaoru?" he asked, puzzled. "Is that you?"

"Oh ho ho, yes. It is me," She chuckled darkly, and took another menacing step towards them, a stomp so powerful it shook a little dust down from the rafters. Next to Sano, the still-somewhat-intoxicated Battousai automatically slid one foot backwards, away from the approaching threat.

"Right... so... are you okay?" Sano asked, not fully sensing the danger confronting him. "You seem a little, uhh, not sure if 'scary' or 'crazy' is the right word. I mean... is something wrong?"

"Oh ho ho, yes. Something. Is. Wrong," she informed him.

"Great, Kenshin's turned into a ghost, and now Jou-chan's turned into some kinda demon," Sano muttered to no one in particular. "What's next?"

In answer to his question, several things happened at once. Kaoru charged across the yard towards them in an all-out assault, which Battousai anticipated and decided to evade a split-second early by leaping vertically into the air—but he took a little breath and hesitated just before he jumped, which gave Sanosuke time to read his move—and just this once, Sano was fast enough to reach straight up and catch the escaping hitokiri by the foot, pulling him back down to earth in a veritable avalanche of yams and potatoes.

Not quite sure of why he was on the ground instead of in the air, and not entirely thrilled about being pummeled by the somewhat stone-like objects cascading down around him, Battousai resorted to a less-sophisticated tactic of self-preservation: he curled up into a ball.

The rain of potatoes gave Sano one of his more brilliant ideas of the day, and he began to hurl potatoes and yams rapid-fire at the advancing kenjutsu instructor.

"What's this?!" Kaoru demanded, pulling up short to defend herself against the onslaught of projectiles. "Bombs? Grenades? HA!" she instinctively resorted to using her bokken to deflect the potatoes, smashing them out of the air left and right.

"I can explain everything!" Sano promised, still throwing potatoes at her as fast as he could manage. "Just stop acting like you want to crack our skulls open, and hear me out!"

He added emphasis to his plea by chucking one last potato at her.

She saw it coming, gauged it,whirled her bokken over her shoulder and _swung_.

There was an echoing _thonk!_ and that little potato went climbing towards the stars. Sano turned and watched it go, arcing up and up, way out over the town. He turned back to Kaoru with a grin.

"Wow!" he exclaimed, and gave her a thumbs-up. "Nice hit!"

"I've got your 'nice hit' right _here_! _Yaaah!_ " she darted in and brought her bokken down squarely on Sano's head with enough force to guarantee a severe concussion for an average man.

Of course, Sanosuke's head was much harder than an average man's, and he was, after all, the first man to take a _ryu-tsui-sen_ without falling-but at the force of Kaoru's strike, his knees buckled.

"Ow!" he hollered, wrapping his arms around his head protectively. "Crazy girl, what is your problem?"

"When you didn't come back, I went to town to look for you," Kaoru told him, her face reddening in aggravation. "And I discovered that you two spent the entire afternoon getting _drunk_!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Sano caught a glimpse of a disoriented Battousai attempting to crawl away, and reached out to snatch him up by the back of the collar.

"That was _his_ idea, not mine," Sano protested, dragging the boy to his feet and holding him up at arm's length, directly between Kaoru and himself. "Blame _him!_ "

"I told you to look after him!" Kaoru accused. "You were supposed to keep him out of trouble!"

"Trouble? What trouble? We didn't even get into any trouble, is what I'm trying to tell you!" Sano yelled, exasperated. "We even brought _potatoes_!"

Kaoru stopped.

Blinked.

A tiny, forlorn sort of breeze skittered across the yard, and the wind chime risked a single _ting_.

"Ehh?" Kaoru said at last. "Potatoes?" she looked down at the objects scattered in the yard, then reached down and picked one up. "These are potatoes? I thought they were bombs or something!"

"Well, they aren't," Sano said, and then released his grip on Battousai's collar.

The boy gave him a halfhearted glare over his shoulder and slunk back, well out of reach.

"...I suppose I might have over-reacted a tiny bit," Kaoru granted, sticking her lower lip out. "But don't deny you were drinking." She pointed at Battousai with her bokken. " _He_ is obviously drunk."

"Fine, yes, we drank, and he's drunk," Sano agreed, rolling his eyes. "He was in-and-out of consciousness on the way home. Kenshin's ghost is probably the only thing keeping him upright at this point."

At that, Battousai turned away and shuffled towards the porch.

"Um...are you okay?" Kaoru asked him, her tone changing.

Without answering her, the legendary hitokiri staggered up the steps and settled into the spot where Kaoru had first found him. He leaned his head back against the wall, eyes closed. " _Just get out_ ," he muttered to the voice in his head, that only he could hear. "Get out, get out, _get out_."

Sano sighed. "May as well give him a break, eh Kenshin?"

Kaoru looked at Sano curiously. "Oh yeah," Sano said, answering her unspoken question. "We kind of figured out that Kenshin's ghost isn't, uh, _stuck_ to Battousai. He can float right out of that body and can probably possess whoever he wants to."

"Did...did you say _possess_?" Kaoru asked, her face turning several colors all at once.

Sano shrugged. "I dunno, whatever you call it when a spirit goes into some other person's body. For the record, I do _not_ recommend it. Totally gave me the creeps."

Kaoru had rarely looked more confused. "...so you went drinking, discovered that Kenshin's spirit can possess people, and came home with a ton of potatoes. I have so many questions, I don't even know where to begin."

Sano grinned at her. "How 'bout we all get some rest, and in the morning, I'll tell the whole story. Battousai needs to hear it too, since I'm pretty sure he's just as confused as you are."

" _Please_ get out. Please leave me alone," the hitokiri was muttering, exhausted to the point of politeness. The wind chime tinkled, and as Kaoru and Sano watched, the scar faded from his cheek.

Battousai breathed a sigh of relief. "...Thank you," he whispered to the unseen spirit of his other self.

Kaoru took a little breath, realizing that she could _feel_ what had just happened. Kenshin's presence was so much more familiar to her as a separate entity from the killer he used to be. When the two were combined, with Battousai's consciousness in control, she could tell that Kenshin was still definitely there but it just didn't feel like Kenshin. But now that they were separated, the spirit of the man she loved was unmistakable, bright as flame.

"There you are, Kenshin!" Kaoru exclaimed cheerfully. "I still can't see you, but I know you're here for sure. Thank goodness."

"Sorry to have worried you," Kenshin told her, hoping she would understand even if she couldn't hear his words.

"All that matters is that you're home safe," she said, and cast a benevolent glance at Sano to assure him the sentiment was extended to him, too. "And I'm looking forward to hearing that story."

* * *

Breakfast found the whole family hanging on every word of Sanosuke's enthusiastic description of the previous night's events.

"Did the painting come to life?" Yahiko demanded, wide-eyed. "Like, did the crane flap its wings or turn its head to look at you or anything?"

Sano paused as if trying to remember. "Uh, no," he said, much to Yahiko's disappointment. "But I can see how that would have made it creepier. Next time I tell it, I'll add that."

"You idiot, you can't just go embellishing stories like that," Megumi admonished, daintily sipping her tea. "That's how superstitions run rampant."

"But it's _my_ story!" Sano protested. "I was there for it-so I'll tell it however I want."

Megumi smiled at him with her eyes. "You do seem to have a knack for it," she granted, which caused Sano's face to turn a little pink.

"But, you haven't added any, ah, extra colorful details to it so far, have you?" Kaoru asked. "You've told it just the way it happened?"

Sano nodded, up and down. "I swear. This little widow-woman didn't want any old grudges hanging over her brand-new baby grandson, so she made a wish—a wish to meet our favorite hitokiri so she could forgive him."

"And so _that's_ why Battousai suddenly appeared?" Kaoru wondered.

Sano shrugged. "Makes more sense than that soul-separation sickness or whatever, don't you think?"

"Hmm. After everything we've seen the last few days," Megumi mused, "I suppose there must be some forces at work in the world which we can't fully understand. Perhaps the soul of Tomoe-san, or Akira-san, or both of them decided to pull some strings to grant that wish."

Kaoru frowned. "But why couldn't they just send Kenshin? The way Sano tells it, Kenshin is the one who spoke with her anyway, and the one who apologized to her. They could have appeared to him in a dream, or left that note with the address in his pocket, and spared us all this trouble of Kenshin turning into a ghost."

As if making up her mind about something, Kaoru whipped her head around to face Battousai, who was sitting there quietly with the rest of them, his food barely touched. His un-scarred face seemed slightly grayish, as he was quite stoically suffering through his hangover. "Well?" Kaoru asked him pointedly. "What do you think about all this? Does it make sense to you?"

He picked up his cup of tea without making a sound. "I'll tell you again," he muttered, eyes downcast. "I don't know why I'm here. And," he paused, thought about what he was going to say, and finally looked up to meet Kaoru's gaze. "Although you've said that I'm welcome, I know I'm not needed."

Kaoru's face flickered with pain, and she had no idea how to respond.

It was up to Sanosuke to break the heavy silence. "At least we can all agree about that," he announced loudly. "In any case, now that the wish-granting business is over with, shouldn't you disappear? I mean, if you've got no reason to be here, shouldn't you let Kenshin just...take over?"

Battousai gave the barest shake of his head. "I tried that. It doesn't work. When we're...overlapped, I don't like it."

"It works when you're unconscious, though," Sano reminded him, a little too eagerly. "I could just punch your lights out, then let Kenshin figure out how to get in there and stay in charge."

" _A-hem_ ," Megumi interrupted, raising a finger in the air to make a point. "Sanosuke, while we _do_ value your input, can you please refrain from offering violence as a solution?"

Sano considered that, a rather blank look on his face. "Uhhh... no?"

Megumi narrowed her eyes, and Sano reacted as if burned.

"Good grief, woman! I'm sorry, but, wow-Do you even know me at all? 'Violence' usually works for me, okay? That's why I'm offering it—it's what I'm good at! And yesterday he was totally into it!"

"Into _violence?_ " Kaoru asked, her heart jumping into her throat.

"No!" Sano scrambled to explain. "It was just—he agreed to let me punch him in the face, but the sake knocked him out before I got to do it."

"Let's assume that punching his face isn't the answer this time, all right?" Megumi sighed. "The transition probably needs to happen more naturally. I think we should return to the plan of letting the routine of daily life sink in, and with it, perhaps Ken-san's spirit will sink in as well."

Kaoru brightened up. "There are still plenty of chores to do around here, now that you mention it. I can tell Kenshin is around here somewhere, but he's obviously not able to do any sweeping..." she looked hopefully at Battousai. "So, would you mind helping out?"

The boy dipped his head, acquiescent.

* * *

For the rest of the day, Kaoru kept the little hitokiri busy sweeping the house, cleaning the kitchen and pulling weeds in the garden. She checked on him from time to time and found him working quietly, perhaps not as industriously as Kenshin worked, but steadily enough. Eventually she approached him to see if he would be comfortable making dinner. As she made her request, the boy's standoffish demeanor seemed to indicate that there was nothing he would like less than that particular task, but after a tiny bit of pouting and pleading from Kaoru, he agreed.

Kaoru backed off for a while then, giving him space, and considered the thoroughly edible meal that followed to be a great personal victory for her. After all, Battousai had told her himself that he knew everything that Kenshin knew, and so she was not going to let him get away with pretending he couldn't cook, not if he was really going to be sticking around for a while.

The next day came and went uneventfully, Kaoru finding task after menial task for Battousai to complete. Kenshin, meanwhile, shadowed the boy's every move, hoping to find the moment when he would let his guard down enough to let Kenshin back in. There were times, in the middle of repetitive, mindless tasks, when Battousai's consciousness would grow slightly hazy, and Kenshin sensed that at those times he could step in unchallenged. But when the chore was complete, the boy would snap out of his trance, and Kenshin would withdraw to spare them both from the frustration of having to hear each others' thoughts.

When Battousai was tasked with cooking dinner for the second night in a row, he sequestered himself in the kitchen, looked straight at where Kenshin's ghost was waiting, and simply said, "your turn."

Blinking at the unexpected invitation, Kenshin happily obliged. Kenshin settled into Battousai's corporeal body, and somehow the hitokiri's consciousness vanished right out of his mind, leaving Kenshin feeling more or less like his old self. Grounded and solid again, standing in his kitchen. Well, Kaoru-dono's kitchen, anyway. And he had a job to do.

When Kaoru peeked in on him a little while later, she could've sworn he was humming—and she thought she caught a glimpse of his scar. _It's working!_ She thought, overjoyed. _Kenshin's making his way back to me._

The red-haired boy that showed up at dinner, however, had a face conspicuously free of scars and expressions both. At least he was a little less pale now, after several days in the sun.

" _Mmm!_ " Kaoru exclaimed over her second serving of the soup. "This is _really_ good! Yahiko, don't you think so?"

"Tastes just like when Kenshin makes it," Yahiko replied, bits of rice stuck to his chin.

"That's because Kenshin _did_ make it," Kaoru revealed, and then beamed at Battousai. "Isn't that right?"

"I was bored," Battousai said in a low voice, and then might have glowered in annoyance at Kaoru's laugh.

"Ha! I knew it would work! The peaceful life here, doing tedious housework—you can't help but let Kenshin step in to handle it."

"How'd you do it?" Yahiko demanded, curious. "Did you have to knock yourself out?"

"No. I figured out how to let go."

Yahiko hunched over, eyes narrowed. "So, is that how we can get Kenshin back? Do you think you'll just... _'let go'_ and disappear for good?"

Battousai didn't answer, and Kaoru couldn't tell if he was considering the possibility or offended by it.

"Well, there's no need to worry about it now," she assured him. "We know Kenshin's not going anywhere and you don't have to either, until you want to."

Battousai stood up, nearly knocking over a tray of food. " _Excuse me_ ," he muttered abruptly, turned his back and slouched away. Kaoru stared after him just long enough to confirm that he was going to his room, not out the front gate, and then released a long-suffering sigh.

"Jeez, what's his problem?" Yahiko complained.

"I wish I knew," Kaoru replied wearily. She swirled the soup around in her bowl, but somehow she had lost her appetite.

* * *

Late that night, the entire house still and silent, Kaoru gave up on trying to sleep. Exiting her bedroom, she sensed Kenshin's spirit at her side in the hallway, where he had apparently taken to spending the nights. She wondered if he slept at all, or if he just kept vigil there until the dawn. She got the idea into her head that Kenshin was asking her something, but instead of trying to answer, she headed for the training hall.

The freshly-scrubbed floor of the dojo was cool and smooth as Kaoru selected a shinai and ran through some exercises, barefoot in the dark. The familiar space where she'd spent her childhood seemed larger and smaller at the same time with only the illumination of the moonlight from outside. Kenshin had followed her, she realized, and in the dark it seemed like he might be just out-of-sight rather than invisible.

This gave her an idea, and she rummaged through her training gear until she found a long strip of cloth to tie around her head as a blindfold.

With the blindfold firmly in place, it was even easier for her to sense Kenshin's presence beside her. Smiling, she pointed her bamboo sword in his direction. "Play this game with me," she ordered. "You move around, and I'll try to track where you go, just by following your ki. Okay?"

In answer, she sensed Kenshin drift slightly to the right. "Aha!" she exclaimed, swinging the shinai around to point at his new location. "Found you!"

Kenshin shook his head, not quite understanding why she needed a blindfold when he was already invisible, but if she wanted to play, so be it. He stepped back, she stepped forward, shinai at the ready. If he moved side to side, she mirrored him. When he advanced, she retreated. They went around the dojo a few times, Kenshin ducking and backtracking here and there to try to confuse her—but she never lost him. Kenshin admired her attentive posture, her flawless reactions, so quick on the uptake it was as if she could anticipate his moves. She was really quite good at this. Deciding to make it more challenging for her, he jumped over her head, landing noiselessly behind her.

She spun around, delighted. "You can't get away that easily," she teased, and then pursued him perfectly through several more dynamic moves. "Ha!" she swung the shinai at his chest, expecting it to swish through the empty air, but suddenly a hand reached out of nowhere and caught the end.

Instantly she knew who it was—it was Kenshin, but at the same time, it wasn't him at all. In confusion she wondered how he'd crept up on her—she'd been so focused on following Kenshin's ki, Battousai had walked into her training session completely undetected.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

She lifted the blindfold up from one eye, peeking out. "Just a little late-night kendo," she answered cheerfully. "My father taught me this game. It's fun! You forget about your eyesight, and focus on using your other senses to follow your partner around the room." She took the blindfold off, and held it up. "Here, you try."

To her surprise, he didn't object, but he also didn't take the blindfold from her. Boldly, she cleared her throat, stepped in close until they were face-to-face, and carefully pressed the blindfold over his eyes. He leaned against the fabric slightly, making it easier for her to tie it behind his head. Kaoru stepped back, checking her work, and nodded once. "One more thing," she told him, and pulled another shinai off the rack, handing it to him. "There. Now... follow me."

She slid one foot to the left, and before she could blink, there was a light rap of a shinai across her wrists. She hadn't even seen him move.

"You're disarmed," Battousai informed her, while Kenshin began to project vehement disapproval over the entire situation.

Kaoru scowled. "No no no, that's not the point of this. Don't try to _win_ , just... cooperate. Follow what I'm doing. Move _with_ me." She tried again, and he matched her step for step. Within a few minutes he mastered the art of it, anticipating her moves as if it were all a routine they'd rehearsed a hundred times. The end of his shinai stayed exactly two feet away from her chest as he mirrored everything she did, exactly as she did it. "I guess it's not much of a challenge when you're good at reading ki," Kaoru commented, but her voice and expression were brimming with approval.

"I like your ki," Battousai murmured. "It's bright. It's... sweet."

" _Sweet?_ " Kaoru couldn't help herself from echoing. She blinked a few times, feeling a blush rise to her cheeks.

Battousai shifted his stance and lowered his shinai, realizing that the game was over. He reached up and pulled the blindfold off. He looked at it in his hand, and then looked up at her.

It was at that moment that Kenshin made an unfortunate discovery. He was every bit as proficient at reading ki as his hitokiri self, and he was also fairly adept at reading other energy too—and the energy he sensed between Kaoru-dono and Battousai now was searing. The shock of it was like lightning, and it startled Kenshin so much that he forgot the rules of his interaction with the physical world, and slipped right through the floor. His feet scrambled for the earth beneath the dojo, hoping to find it solid, and he accidentally kicked something that had been hidden there, out of sight.

It was the hitokiri's katana, his killing sword. And when Kenshin touched it, it resonated with ki like a bell struck by a hammer.

Halfway through the floor, Kenshin froze, realizing what he'd found. That amplified note of ki, the signature of the sword brushed by its master's spirit, was unmistakable—and instantly, Battousai recognized it. He broke his eyes away from Kaoru and trained his gaze on the place where his sword was hidden beneath the dojo's floor.

* * *

...to be continued...


	10. Chapter 10: the rain and the river

Chapter 10: the rain and the river

* * *

"What is it?" Kaoru asked, as Battousai looked away. She could feel Kenshin's ki, felt that he was in some sort of distress—probably just because Battousai was still holding a shinai. Ridiculous rurouni, couldn't he tell that his younger self meant her no harm?

The assistant master of Kamiya Kasshin-ryu had developed a talent for reading ki, but sensing the presence of the sword under the floor was beyond her abilities. And since Yahiko had been the one to hide it there, and hadn't told her where it was, she had no idea what Battousai suddenly seemed so distracted about.

Ignoring her, the hitokiri looked sideways at where Kenshin's ghost seemed to be. "Thank you," he muttered. Without a word to Kaoru, he returned his bamboo sword to its rack and left the training hall.

"Now what was that about?" Kaoru wondered aloud.

"Kaoru-dono, you should probably move that sword," Kenshin told her, still hoping that somehow the message would get through. Kaoru squinted at him, her mouth twisting into a frown.

"Okay Kenshin-I know you're trying to tell me something, but I can't tell what it is. And... are you sitting down?" she asked. "You seem... shorter."

"Oroo..." Kenshin tried several times to climb up out of the floor, but kept falling back through. He'd get an elbow or an arm up onto what seemed solid, but when he tried to put his weight on it and haul his legs out, the floor would give way. It was a bit like trying to climb out of a pond onto a slippery bank, but instead of water, he was chest-deep in the floor. Finally, with an extra burst of effort, he jumped up from the ground under the dojo and managed to land on the floorboards without sinking through them. He stood up and stepped as close as he dared to Kaoru-dono's face, willing her to see him, to hear him. "He's going to find his sword," Kenshin tried to explain. "If we don't want him to get it back, we need to hide it somewhere else."

She blinked at the empty space in front of her, that was weirdly, intensely full of Kenshin's spirit. "What's the matter with you?" she wondered, concerned. "What happened just now, between you and Battousai?"

"If I can't tell you, maybe I can show you," he said, exasperated. "Please come with me, Kaoru-dono!" Not knowing what else to do, he tried to grab her hand.

" _Kya!_ " Kaoru cried out and flinched backwards, shaking her hand in the air. "Something _cold_ just-Kenshin? Was that you?"

Swallowing, she bravely stuck her hand back out in front of her. "If that was you, do it again."

Carefully, he tried his best to wrap his hand around hers.

"Ah—so this is-," Kaoru exclaimed.

"Come this way," Kenshin said, but when he tried to tug gently on her hand, his hand slipped through hers. She winced as the sensation of a cold cloudiness flashed through the bones of her fingers.

"It doesn't hurt," Kaoru reassured him, knowing that he'd seen that flicker on her face. "It's fine. It feels like... cold smoke." She held up her hand again. "Whatever you're trying to show me, I want to see."

Kenshin reached out to her, touched her fingertips with his own, and pulled as lightly as he could.

"This way?" she asked, taking a step in the right direction. "...Do you want me to follow you? Wait—I've got it! Wave your hand through my hand, up and down for 'yes', and side to side for 'no'."

Kenshin sighed, but then waved his hand through hers, up and down.

"Ha!" her eyes lit up like she'd found a million diamonds. "This is amazing! Don't you see? We can communicate now!"

Kenshin waved his hand for 'yes' again, and then moved away. She followed his lead, bubbling with excitement at the prospect of being able to understand him again. Once they were outside in the yard, around the side of the training hall, Kaoru became confused about where Kenshin was bringing her.

"I don't get it," she frowned. "You want to go back in the training hall? We just came from there." She held her hand up, palm out, waiting for a yes or a no—but Kenshin had a better idea. Very carefully, he wrote the kanji for 'under' onto her palm. Fortunately, it was one of the easiest kanji to write.

"Under?" Kaoru mused. "Something under the dojo?"

Kenshin wrote another simple kanji onto her palm.

" _Tou_." Kaoru blinked at her palm, considering. "You're saying there's a _sword_ under there?"

The strange chill swept through her hand, up and down, and Kaoru giggled with excitement. "This is great, ne? You can talk to me again! Well, you can write to me, at least."

Sensing urgency from Kenshin, Kaoru wasted no time crawling underneath the training hall. "All right, if you think I should get the sword, I'll go get the sword," she said, matter-of-fact. She crawled forward in the dark, keeping up a one-sided conversation with Kenshin as she went. "Though I don't really see what the big deal is. Even if Battousai _does_ know where his sword is, he agreed to give it up in exchange for staying here. And what would he possibly want it for, anyway? You can't honestly think he's going to murder anyone. Hmpf... there sure are a lot of cobwebs down here, aren't there? Maybe I should ask Battousai to get under here and sweep them out, as part of his chores."

She was crawling forward almost blindly, searching the ground ahead of her by hand, and Kenshin's ghost was crouched alongside her, creeping forward. He knew his other self was lurking nearby, but he wasn't sure exactly where—was he above, in the dojo? Or was he already down there with them in the dark? Kenshin couldn't discount the possibility. He didn't sense any danger, but there was also a certain... lack of passivity from the boy which was troubling. Battousai might be up to something.

Kenshin strained with all his senses to perceive if there might be any sort of ambush ahead. Trying so hard to see what was unseeable, Kenshin was reminded of Kaoru-dono's game with the blindfold. When Kaoru-dono had been chasing Kenshin's ghost around the dojo, it had been a game of cat and mouse. But with Battousai tracking Kaoru-dono, it had turned into a dance.

 _That_ , Kenshin realized, was what was bothering him so much. Maybe there was no harm in the boy having his sword back. Maybe the real concern, the real risk, was that-

Kaoru screamed, a sharp noise cut short as she tried to stand up and hit her head against the low ceiling of the crawlspace. She crumpled, unconscious, as Kenshin realized what had startled her: amber eyes—a dragon in the dark.

Gritting his teeth, Kenshin pounced on his younger self, ignoring the boy's scuffling attempts to get away. The hitokiri's katana was already back in his hand, but useless against a ghost. Angrily, Kenshin smashed his head into Battousai's, invading his thoughts. " _Why?_ " Kenshin demanded. "Why did you frighten her?"

"This is your fault," Battousai protested sullenly. "She would've known I was here if it wasn't for you."

Kenshin had no idea what he meant. " _What?_ "

"Haven't you noticed?" Battousai accused. "When you're around, she can barely sense me at all. She sees me, but she feels you."

Kenshin thought about that, and remembered something Hiko had said long ago, a warning about overlooking someone's sword-spirit if there was a more formidable source of ki nearby. _You can't feel the rain when you're underwater._

"Yes, that's it." Battousai affirmed. "I'm the rain. You're the river."

In a different situation, Kenshin would have appreciated that metaphor, and perhaps even arrived at it himself. But given the current circumstances in the close confines under the dojo, he wasn't in the mood for poetry. "All right, I apologize," he granted. "I shouldn't have led her down here. You don't need that sword for anything, so please just leave it for now and help me get Kaoru-dono out of here."

Battousai scoffed, the merest scrap of a sound. "I'm tired of helping you."

"What was that?"

"I said I'm tired of helping you," Battousai repeated. "Once again, Kaoru's in trouble because of you and you're calling on me to get her out of it. I'm tired of doing your dirty work."

Kenshin couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You can't leave her here like this. Get her out of here."

This was a problem, an impasse. Another fundamental disagreement, neither of them willing to back down. Battousai tightened his grip on his sword.

" _Make me_."

* * *

Yahiko was having a bad dream. Someone was fighting—Kenshin was fighting—but the fight was murky and blurry somehow and Yahiko couldn't really tell what was happening. All he knew was that the fight was bothering him, bothering him because he couldn't help, and it seemed like maybe Kenshin was yelling-

Yahiko awoke, confused, realizing he was safe in his bed, but the bad feelings from the dream persisted. He listened to the darkness for a minute, but all was quiet. Still, it seemed like there was fight going on somewhere, and Yahiko didn't like it. He wondered if maybe he was just thirsty, and decided to go outside to get a drink from the well.

He took his bokken along, just in case.

And that was how Yahiko managed to find himself confronted with one of the most disturbing sights he'd ever seen: the deadliest Ishin-shishi hitokiri, disheveled and shivering, panting for breath—an unsheathed katana in one hand—his other hand gripping an ankle of a dirt-covered _body_ that he was dragging out from underneath the training hall—a body that was horrifying recognizable.

" _Kaoru?!_ " Yahiko gasped, dropping the water he'd been about to drink.

Instantly, without a thought for fear, without a thought for his own life, Yahiko was ready to fight. "What did you _do to her?!_ " he cried out, brandishing his wooden sword.

Battousai looked up, disoriented, as if unable to tell where this new challenger was coming from. " _Nothing_ ," he said dully, and dropped Kaoru's foot. "I did nothing."

"Get away from her!" Yahiko hollered, advancing a couple of steps. It was clear that the absurdity of raising a wooden sword against the hitokiri Battousai's katana was not a factor he intended to consider. His fighting spirit was fierce and pure, familiar in its innocence and intensity. It was just like Kaoru's. The kid had learned more from his teacher than he knew.

"You'll do well with that determination," Battousai said, but something in his tone sounded enough like _Kenshin_ to make Yahiko look at him a bit more closely.

What had seemed like 'shivering' at first glance was actually more of a shimmer here and there in the air around him, like heat rising from a summer road. With his head down, shoulders slumped forward, Yahiko couldn't see his face.

Yahiko adjusted his stance. "Who... which one are you?"

"Both," Kenshin answered, and knelt at Kaoru's side. "Yahiko, bring some water. Kaoru-dono, can you hear me?"

As if on cue, Kaoru stirred. That was good enough for Yahiko, and he dropped his bokken in favor of a water bucket.

"Ah—ouch," Kaoru whimpered, coming around. She squinted at Kenshin, her vision blurred. For a brief instant of double vision, it looked like there were two of him. Then her focus returned. "...What happened? That sword..."

Kenshin remembered the katana in his hand and deftly flipped it over, so the sharpened edge was facing away from Kaoru.

"You hit your head," Kenshin explained. "Are you all right?"

Kaoru grimaced. "...You know, one of the hazards of growing up in a kenjutsu school," she began, "is that sometimes you're susceptible to getting hit in the head." She raised herself into a sitting position with a muffled groan. "...Especially when you don't wear the helmet and face mask that your father told you to wear."

Seeing that Kenshin wasn't following, she sighed. "What I'm saying is, I've been knocked unconscious once or twice before. I'll be fine. But..." she examined her training outfit. "Why am I covered in dirt?"

Yahiko came trotting over, bringing her a dipper of water. "That's 'cause he was dragging you by your foot!" he blurted out.

Kenshin lowered his head and offered an apology before she had a chance to get offended. And the _way_ he said it, with that odd sort of formality that only Kenshin could pull off without sounding insincere, was what gave it away.

"Kenshin!" Kaoru gasped happily. "Is it really you?!" She leaned forward to hug him, but somehow he pulled back, out of reach. Kaoru's face fell. "...what happened to Battousai?"

"Still here," Kenshin said.

Kaoru frowned, trying to figure out what that meant. "So, he... let you back in?"

Kenshin looked away, unwilling or unable to explain. "In the morning, we should have Megumi-dono look at that bump on your head," he said, changing the subject.

Kaoru narrowed her eyes. There was something he wasn't telling her, and she didn't like the sound of it.

* * *

Morning arrived, and with it a litany of admonition from a certain female physician. "...I know you're fond of boisterous horseplay, but as I've told you a dozen times-you've got to take better care of yourself," she finished at last. "For Ken-san's sake, even more than your own."

"Ow!" Kaoru yelped as Megumi poked too hard at the little goose-egg swelling on her head. " _Mou_... it wasn't 'boisterous horseplay', this time," she grumbled guiltily. "Just an accident."

Megumi sighed. "Does your neck hurt at all?" she asked, fingers gently prodding the edges of Kaoru's jaw. "Any nausea or dizziness?"

"No, I'm fine. Just a bruised scalp. It's Kenshin we need to worry about."

"Oh?" Megumi set her medicine bag aside, exam complete. "Why is that?"

Kaoru's eyes glittered with relief at having someone to vent to, someone she could confide in when it came to all things Kenshin. "I'm not sure, but I'm guessing he had it out with Battousai, which resulted more or less in a, well, something like a hostile takeover? So maybe Kenshin feels like he's trespassing in his own body. Either that or maybe he's half himself and half hitokiri, and the two halves aren't adding up to a whole. I don't know, but he seems more distant than ever. It's like he's ashamed to look at me."

Megumi was quiet for a minute, thinking. "Tell you what," she said at last. "Let me take him on my rounds today. That way he can get out of the house for a while, and it won't be with some irresponsible hooligan."

Down in the Ruffian row house, Sano sneezed.

"I'll keep a close eye on him," Megumi promised. "Maybe a change of scenery will help him clear his head."

"Sounds good," Kaoru said. "I hope it works."

* * *

Himura Kenshin actually would have made a fine doctor, Megumi thought. He was empathetic with patients, and generally had a calming effect on people, even people in a significant amount of pain. Maybe it was the voice, the disarming violet eyes, the fact that he genuinely cared about people. There was also the fact that he knew how a human body was put together, probably from having taken so many of them apart. Megumi had a strong suspicion that Kenshin took his knowledge of physiology for granted, not realizing just how valuable it was.

Together they set a teenage boy's broken arm, visited an elderly couple who were recovering from pneumonia, and checked on the various coughs and fevers and stomach aches of half a dozen other people in town. At first Megumi wondered if anyone would look at her strangely for bringing Kenshin along, but after the first few interactions with patients, she realized she had nothing to worry about. As a physician's assistant, the short little red-headed swordsman was unimpeachably helpful, and it turned out that most people had heard some version of the story that he had rescued Megumi from Takeda Kanryu, so they were generally pleased to meet him. No one seemed to think it was odd for Megumi to have Kenshin assisting her for the day. They probably assumed she was paying him, since he was more-or-less known to be unemployed by the people who kept track of such things.

Finally all the house calls were complete, and it was time to return to Dr. Gensai's clinic for the evening.

Megumi was lost in her own thoughts as she made her way home, counting her blessings. Dr. Gensai was good-hearted and easy to work for, a kind and generous superior in the medical profession. Her own skills and abilities were recognized and appreciated, and she knew she was making a difference in many peoples' lives, improving their health. She was well-liked and respected. She had a comfortable life, friends she cared about. Even Ken-san, being only a friend, was a blessing. It was far more than she deserved, and she was deeply thankful for all of it.

Kenshin was being so quiet, Megumi almost forgot he was there until he stepped a little bit in front of her, raising his arm a few inches away from his side. "Careful," he warned.

Megumi stopped, surprised, and then realized where she was. This particular street had some less-than-gentlemanly inhabitants, the sort who liked to loiter in doorways and jeer at women passing by. "There's nothing to worry about, Ken-san," Megumi reassured him. "I come this way all the time."

"There are three men up ahead," Kenshin told her. "Their intentions are less than honorable, to be sure."

For a brief instant, Megumi felt like a fairy tale princess, guarded by a dutiful knight. Then reality dawned and she was once again a practical woman in the real world, walking home after work on tired feet. Megumi shook her head. "While I appreciate your protective instincts, Ken-san, I think you're over-estimating them. The worst they'll do is hoot and howl at me as I walk by. Most of them probably mean it as a compliment. It's nothing out of the ordinary. Besides, we've got hours of light left, and the real troublemakers around here don't come out until after dark."

Kenshin nodded, and they proceeded down the street. Megumi glanced from side to side, and eventually saw a man up ahead who startled when he noticed her, looked over his shoulder and gave a signal to someone she couldn't see, and made to move towards her.

She heard a barely perceptible sound from Kenshin, a tiny, disappointed sigh.

Two more men spilled out of a doorway, joining the first, but one of them stopped in his tracks as he realized that their quarry wasn't alone. That man pulled on the sleeves of the other two, and then urgently whispered something in their ears.

Whatever he said had an immediate effect; all three of them looked Kenshin up and down, came to the same conclusion, and backtracked so fast they stumbled over one another as they went.

Megumi repressed a laugh. "My goodness," she said, "I had no idea I would be needing a bodyguard today, but it was my luck to have the best one there could possibly be!"

"I'm sorry there are men like them," Kenshin said softly, "who make bodyguards necessary. The next time you come this way, bring Sanosuke along and point out this place to him. He'll make sure they never trouble you again."

"I'll do that," Megumi promised, and a smile shone from her eyes. Sanosuke was yet another blessing in her life, and she knew that if she asked him to, the former fight-merchant would get rid of every street thug who ever said so much as a rude word to her. Takani Megumi was a fortunate woman indeed.

* * *

They arrived at the Oguni clinic without further incidents, and Megumi figured now was her chance to talk to Kenshin about his current... condition. She was about to offer him a cup of tea when the evening calm was shattered by a terrible wail.

" _Doctor! Help!_ "

Kenshin and Megumi looked at each other in surprise, and ran outside. At the front steps of the clinic they met a boy, younger than Yahiko, hyperventilating and holding in his blood-soaked arms an even smaller child, a girl no bigger than Ayame-chan. " _Please save her_ ," the boy choked, and Kenshin rushed forward to scoop the little girl out of his arms. As he lifted her up, he felt and then saw the nature of her injuries—between layers of bloodied clothing, hanging in rags, this child had been cut in a certain way, as impossibly obscene as it was unmistakable. _Disemboweled._ _Harakiri._

"Kenshin, bring her inside!" Megumi shouted, running to get her kit for surgery.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," the boy was gasping, over and over. "I thought she would die, I thought she would just be dead-"

Kenshin caught that, felt it strike something deep in his mind, but he pushed it aside. He left the boy outside and brought the girl to Megumi, laid her down, blocked out everything else.

But he knew, he knew there was nothing he could do.

Megumi took stock of the situation. It was bad. The jagged wound showed that the blade hadn't been the sharpest-but it had been sharp enough. The child's stomach and intestines were exposed. Her face was white, pulse rapid, breathing shallow. The abdominal cavity was filling with blood.

Megumi locked eyes with Kenshin and saw hopelessness there, saw in his eyes: _this is fatal._

"No," Megumi said firmly. " _No._ Kenshin-"

She wanted to tell him not to despair, not to give up. But it was too late for that. He was trapped under the weight of what witnessing thousands of sword-cuts had taught him. He was gone, lost—and she needed him back. "Kenshin, snap out of it! I need your help!"

He didn't respond. Megumi bit her lip. She needed him in this fight, focused, _now!_

She drew back her hand. "Do not tell Sanosuke that I did this," she said guiltily, and then with one mighty _slap_ , she tried her very best to knock the scar right off of his cheek.

The face that turned back to look at her, with wide-open eyes, was 100% Kenshin, seeming completely awake for the first time that day.

"Good, you're back," Megumi breathed. "Now help me save her life."

* * *

To be continued!


	11. Chapter 11: pretty enough

_Author's note: Hi everyone! thanks for reading so far. Just a quick note here on anime vs. manga vs. live action: my headcanon borrows from all three, but hopefully not in a way that's too distracting for y'all. In the manga, Sano and Megumi and even Saitou all left Tokyo in the fall of 1878. I can accept that they go off and live their own lives, Sano exploring the world, Megumi opening her clinic in Aizu, Saitou prowling around Hokkaido or wherever... but... just not so soon after the business with Enishi. They'd all been through too much together to just break apart that quickly. I prefer to imagine they went their separate ways a year later, in the fall of 1879, at least a few months after Kenshin and Kaoru got married. So this story is set post-Jinchuu, after Megumi has told Kenshin that he only has a few years left of being able to use hiten mitsurugi...but it's also set well before the cast splits up and goes their different ways. Also I love Ayame & Suzume, so they exist in this story. Kenshin is just too cute carrying them around everywhere. :) ok, back to the ghost story now..._

* * *

Chapter 11: Pretty enough

* * *

At last, Megumi declared there was nothing else they could do for the night. Their tiny patient was sleeping, aided by an anesthetic of Megumi's own creation. The dosage for one so small had been a blind guess, but so far, it seemed to be all right. The horrible slice across the little girl's abdomen had been cleaned and meticulously stitched shut, her organs safely back where they belonged. Her pulse was steady.

"It's up to you now, little one," Megumi murmured to the girl, smoothing a few strands of dark hair from the child's face. "Please... live."

Kenshin looked at Megumi, his face solemn, but deeply relieved. "She has a chance?" he dared to ask.

Megumi smiled. "It's difficult to say, with kids. Sometimes they die from the slightest thing, or for no reason at all...other times, they're ten times more resilient than the healthiest adult. There have been plagues that wiped out whole cities, which somehow a few children survived. This girl was lucky in that her internal organs were intact. But having been exposed to the air itself could cause an infection, to say nothing of her dirty clothes and whatever else. To answer your question though...yes. Yes, she has a chance."

Kenshin bowed his head. "Thank goodness," he whispered. "Megumi-dono, this is all thanks to your skill."

"I did what I could," Megumi said, matter-of-fact. "But now, we have one more patient to treat,"

"We do?" Kenshin blinked.

Megumi tilted her head towards the yard, where hoarse sounds of sobbing could be heard. "That boy," Megumi said sagely. "He may not be physically injured, but he's been crying his eyes out for hours."

"About that boy," Kenshin remembered suddenly, his shoulders tensing up. "It was him. He's the one who did this."

Carefully, Megumi dipped a clean hand-towel into a pot of heated water, and wrung it out. The steam rose from it as she twisted it in her hands. "And he regrets it," she said. "From the bottom of his heart, he regrets it." She folded the steaming cloth and placed it neatly on a tray, next to a cup of water. "Here, take this." She passed the tray to Kenshin. "Make him wash his face and drink some water. And please, talk to him. You've always been good with kids."

* * *

A waning moon rose as another hour passed, Kenshin sitting quietly beside the boy, listening to him croak his apologies in a voice broken by grief and anguish. Megumi watched from inside, knowing intuitively that it was best to let Kenshin handle this part.

"...I didn't know it would be like that," the boy was crying. "I didn't know she would... I didn't know everything would, would _come out_ that way. I thought she would just be dead. If I knew how it would be, I would have never, ever done it. I would never have done it. Not for all the food in the world."

"You did this for food?" Kenshin asked softly.

The child looked away, ashamed. "There wasn't enough to feed all of us. And they told us she wasn't pretty enough to sell, so they told me to kill her."

 _Pretty enough_... Without meaning to, Kenshin caused a tiny leaf to tear itself to bits as it blew across the yard. He swallowed, and carefully hid his hands in his sleeves, so the boy wouldn't see them clenched into fists.

"Who told you that?" he asked in a low voice.

"The... the hit squad. Of the Shuei-gumi. They were supposed to train some of us, starting today."

" _Shuei-gumi?_ " Kenshin repressed his reaction to the name. The Shuei syndicate... that was the same yakuza that Yahiko had been with. "I see... and there are others there, like yourself?"

The boy nodded. "Lately they've brought in more and more kids. They sell some of the girls, and we help them with lifting stuff from shipments, and making deliveries to customers, because we're lower than the noses of the police."

Kenshin blinked as he mentally re-translated what the kid had heard into what an adult had probably said.

"But..." the boy took a shuddery breath, and continued. "Now, there are too many of us. The hit squad was bored today, so they gave us swords, and told us if we killed some of each other, we could eat. When we couldn't choose who to kill, they picked her. Then they picked me to do it. They said if I wanted to be a hit man, I had to do it. But... I don't want to be a hit man."

"A _hit man_ , is it?" Kenshin repeated. This was new slang for an incredibly familiar function. He felt old, knowing that the youngest generation of criminals had already invented a new phrase to describe that particular occupation.

The child began speaking faster as the sequence of events came back to him, fresh tears rising in his eyes. "But I thought it would be fast, and I thought, I thought maybe she wouldn't mind dying, 'cause when you're dead you can't be hungry. And I wanted to do it the right way, the way I thought it would be the best, but, when, when her guts came out and the grown-ups saw the mess, they said she was disgusting and they left."

He stopped abruptly to take a huge gulp of air. "The other kids cried and told me to cut her neck, but I couldn't- I couldn't do it."

He hung his head, finished.

Kenshin felt the branches of nearby trees rustling, the leaves whispering heatedly to one another in the tense night air, echoing the turmoil in his own heart. The boy's story was darkly horrifying, yet all too believable. How common was tragedy of this sort, even in the new era? The callousness of human beings, after all, was unchangeable. Kenshin's focus returned to the sniffling child, who had at least made one compassionate choice.

"No matter what happened before," Kenshin told him solemnly, "At the end, you did the right thing. You brought her here, and saved her life."

" _Ahem_ ," said Megumi, appearing behind them. "Sorry to interrupt, but I've made the young man a meal. And as a doctor, I must insist that he eats it."

The boy looked to Kenshin for approval, and Kenshin nodded. With slumped shoulders and a bowed head, the boy allowed Megumi to shepherd him into the house.

"Also, Ken-san, we have a visitor..." Megumi added with a grim and tight-lipped look, before hurrying the boy indoors and out of sight.

Kenshin frowned, wondering who it could be at this late hour of the night, and why Megumi seemed suddenly in a rush to get the boy out of the way. Then he realized the answer:

 _Saitou Hajime._

The police inspector gave the barest tip of his cap, too-wide of a smile already stretched across his lean face. "I heard a little girl was murdered," he said, in the same amused tone he might have used to say he heard the sky was blue. "I came to investigate."

Kenshin didn't answer, didn't even turn his head.

Something about the way the former Battousai was sitting so perfectly still made Saitou realize that something was off.

The old wolf's eyes opened a bit further than their usual squint, his pupils contracting. "...you're different," he remarked, and stared Kenshin up and down, trying to figure out exactly what he was looking at.

"So, you've changed your clothes," Saitou observed. "And your hair. You might have actually combed it. Finally cleaning up your act for the Kamiya girl?"

Kenshin found himself wishing futilely that 'Lieutenant Fujita' would just go away. He didn't want to meet the former Shinsengumi captain's gaze.

He wasn't completely sure which version of himself Saitou would see in his eyes.

"I would say you're looking... _smaller,_ " Saitou continued, "but, that's probably just because your abilities have already deteriorated significantly since your last fight."

His tone was dismissive, but it was a shrewd enough insight to at least make Kenshin glance sideways up at him.

"You know about that?" he asked in a low voice.

Saitou grinned. "Of course I know about that. I have an extremely agile informant working for me these days."

"Do you mean Chou, the sword-hunter?" Kenshin asked, wondering how on earth he could have missed such a conspicuous broom-head snooping on him.

"I do not even remotely mean that basically un-reformed member of Shishio's ten idiots," Saitou declared, in a way that let Kenshin know how stupid he seemed for even asking. "Chou may be employed by my department, but I have someone much better than him. Actually, that's how I found out about the little girl today. My informant was there when it happened."

The fragments of the torn leaf twitched on the ground as Kenshin fought to control a wave of anger. "Then you're aware that syndicate members were forcing children to kill each other, and you had an agent present who _did nothing to stop it?_ " Kenshin demanded, finally meeting Saitou's eyes.

"hoh," Saitou smirked approvingly. "It _does_ help a little when you growl that way, when you talk. And anyway, since you're having so much trouble figuring it out, you should know that my 'agent' is less than ten years old. He's the perfect squalid orphan to infiltrate a group that collects and employs such children for their various operations."

Kenshin's eyes widened as he realized it. "Orphan... do you mean _Eiji?_ That boy?"

"From Shingetsu village, yes," Saitou said, sounding almost proud.

Kenshin's mouth fell open in shock. "You made him spy on the yakuza for you? Is there any limit to what you'll use people to do?!"

Now the little bits of leaf jumped and sputtered against the ground like droplets of water sizzling on a hot pan. Their motion was enough to catch Saitou's attention, and he watched, delighted, as they skittered across the yard.

"Hmm...this is a good energy from you," Saitou mused, drinking it in. "Eiji's other report might have been wrong. Maybe you aren't losing your abilities after all. In fact, if I didn't know better, I might actually think that perhaps I should reconsider your offer of a rematch."

"Just how did Eiji find out about...?" Kenshin asked, sweating slightly but managing to calm down.

"Simple. Children never shut their mouths. Your spiky-haired brat blabbed it to some girl at the Akabeko, who blabbed it to a student at the Maekawa dojo, who blabbed it to Eiji." Saitou's eyes narrowed to deadly slits. "So. Is it true?"

Kenshin looked down. "Megumi-dono says I have four or five years left," he confessed.

Saitou's expression lost some of its smirk. Unexpectedly, he sat down on the top step, the same step Kenshin was sitting on. The steps were quite wide, so he was far outside of the zone where any sort of comrade would sit, but it still seemed like a gesture of solidarity. He reached into the jacket of his uniform and fished out his pack of cigarettes, and for a split second of insanity, Kenshin actually thought his old nemesis might offer him one.

Instead, Saitou lit a cigarette and smoked for a minute, utterly inscrutable to Kenshin's mild attempt at guessing what he was thinking.

"You should know," Saitou said after a pensive moment. "I didn't make Eiji do anything. He came up with the idea of infiltrating the yakuza all on his own. It seems that _someone_ inspired him to be like his elder brother, who, as you recall, was one of my undercover officers." He paused to take a drag from the cigarette perched on his lip. "Eiji has done an admirable job so far as an informant. He has good ears—and remarkable drive and dedication. He pours his heart into his work, following his brother's footsteps—and his hero's advice."

Smoke rose into the night, and Kenshin stared out into the dark.

"Eiji was collecting information today," Saitou continued, "when the Shuei-gumi decided they had too many mouths to feed. Some lowlife thug known as 'hitokiri Gasuke' volunteered to kill off three or four of the kids himself, apparently because he hates children, but then he decided it would be better if the children killed each other. That way, they could see if any of the boys were proficient with a blade and willing to kill; potential candidates for indoctrination into their so-called 'hit squad'. _Feh_."

Saitou made a face as if his cigarette had gone sour. "When they determined the children were too 'cowardly' to kill one another, they selected the least valuable child, and then ordered one of their more reliable lads to dispatch her. Eiji wanted to interfere—he says he thought of lighting the wall on fire, to cause a distraction-but before he had a chance to do anything the wretched kid stabbed the girl. In the stomach."

Saitou paused and smoked.

"The story matches," Kenshin said. "You aren't after the boy, are you?"

" _After_ him?" Saitou echoed, incredulous. He shook his head. "And if I _were_ , you've just told me that he's here, or at least that you've spoken with him." The corner of his mouth quirked. "Imagine. One interrogation of you, back then, and we would have known where all you Choshu rebels were hiding. But the past is passed, isn't it? And of course I'm not pursuing the boy in this case. He's irrelevant now. I smell blood here, but not death. The girl's still alive, isn't she?"

Kenshin nodded, trying not to be annoyed that Saitou considered him such an easy source of info.

"Good." The old wolf sighed through a cloud of smoke. "With this latest incident today, I intend to put away the Shuei-gumi's ringleaders for a very long time. Execution is a possibility as well, for some of them. But there are quite a few associates of theirs who might slip through the cracks. Unless..."

Kenshin glanced at him. " _Unless?_ "

"Unless you'd like to use your hiten-mitsurugi ryu for what it's actually _for_ , while you still can." Saitou smiled.

" _You and I could put them down_." He flicked the butt of his cigarette to the dirt, stepped on it, and pulverized it with a quick twist of his foot. Then he stood, and stretched his left arm across his chest. "It would have to be off the record, of course."

Kenshin frowned. The prospect of doing another government mission in the shadows was unappealing, to say the least.

"Just think it over," Saitou prompted, sounding perfectly confident that he already knew what the answer would be.

"I won't help you massacre them," Kenshin warned.

"... _You..._ won't?" Saitou shot back, piling significant emphasis on both words.

Kenshin grimaced, the implications clear. His old nemesis suspected, or already knew...

"Hah," Saitou chuckled. "Don't fool yourself. I recognized that sword of yours the second I laid eyes on it. Not so _backwards_ anymore, is it? I don't care where you came from, how you pulled this off. But it is good to see you again. Himura." His eyes gleamed. " _Battousai._ "

Kenshin slumped a little, head lowered.

"I'll stop by the Kamiya dojo tomorrow night," Saitou told him. "Now, I'd like to check on the victim." He looked up towards the clinic. "Doctor?"

Megumi slid back the door. "Yes?" she asked coolly.

"Mind if I visit your patient? Just for a moment."

Megumi frowned at him, but decided not to refuse. She led him through the clinic to the little girl's bedside.

"I see," Saitou said, as Megumi lifted the sheet to show the child's bandaged abdomen. "Were the organs punctured at all?"

"Fortunately, no," Megumi confirmed. "And blood loss was minimized when she went into shock. Both her temperature and pulse are good for now."

Saitou nodded. "She'll survive," he predicted, and then his face actually softened. "Poor girl. She looks like a perfectly normal child. To think of the cretins that would call this little one 'ugly'..."

Megumi blinked a few times, not sure what to make of that comment.

Saitou cleared his throat. "In any case, if she has nowhere to go, I have no doubt my wife will want to look after this one too. Not that I'm trying to run an orphanage." He scrunched his eyes shut and tipped his cap to Megumi. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way."

Megumi watched for a moment after the police inspector left the gate, her arms crossed over her chest. She had heard every word of his talk with Kenshin, but wasn't sure what to make of it. Certainly Kenshin would want to clean out the Shuei yakuza now—but Saitou's involvement seemed dangerous. His connection to Kenshin's past might tempt Battousai into killing. Not that the legendary hitokiri would need much encouraging, according to his own statements. He only needed a mission, a target—and Saitou was offering that to him, gift-wrapped in justice.

Once she was sure Saitou was down the street and gone, Megumi sighed and went to check on her other patient, the little boy. As she'd expected, he'd eaten every grain of rice and had fallen asleep on the tatami, the empty bowl still in his hand. He'd washed the grime from his face with the cloth she'd given to Kenshin earlier, but the rest of him was filthy. He would need to be scrubbed from head to toe—but that could wait until morning. Megumi found a spare blanket and draped it over the boy where he lay, blew out the lamp, and closed the shoji.

Kenshin was still sitting out on the steps, lost in thought. After a while he pulled the sword from his belt and held it, sheathed, across his knees, staring at it abstractly.

 _Use your hiten-mitsurugi ryu for what it's actually for._ Saitou's words echoed in his head. And Kenshin remembered what it was for, remembered the first time he'd seen it, cutting bandits into chunks of meat. Protecting the innocent? Rescuing people from suffering? An ancient style that allowed one to defeat many... a style so powerful, it could overturn a nation. And it would die with him, its last practitioner.

 _One more time_ , he thought to himself. _Once more, I could..._

* * *

to be continued!


	12. Chapter 12: ghost-sword

A/N: picks up right where the previous chapter left off...

* * *

Chapter 12: ghost-sword

* * *

"Ken-san?" Megumi called, breaking him out of his trance. "Are you heading home soon?"

"oh-no," he said. "I was thinking of staying here."

"Really?" Megumi raised an eyebrow at him, earning an apologetic sigh in reply.

"I know Kaoru-dono will worry, but I would worry more, leaving you here alone tonight. Just in case the yakuza comes looking for those kids."

"Frankly I'm surprised you aren't already over there, slashing the place to splinters," Megumi declared, flipping a lock of her hair back over her shoulder. "They more than deserve it. And prison's too good for them—they'd have too many friends in there, anyway."

"That they would," Kenshin agreed, remembering the handfuls of thugs and gangsters that had been carted off to jail as a byproduct of his various adventures in Tokyo over the past year.

"And there are children involved," Megumi reminded him gravely. "These thugs are practically begging for you to shut down their operation and beat every last one of them senseless. I expect they'll all need new teeth when you're done with them."

"They'll need new heads," Kenshin murmured. "If I use this sword."

Megumi pursed her lips. "So don't use that sword," she said bluntly. "Where is your sakabatou?"

Kenshin shook his head. "In my mind it's here," he touched his left hip. "I had it with me, the whole time that I was just a spirit. It turned incorporeal at the same time I did."

"What are you saying? It's a ghost-sword now?"

Kenshin glanced up at the eaves of the clinic; he thought he'd heard the ding of a wind chime from somewhere. "Ghost-sword?" he pondered aloud. "I suppose that makes as much sense as anything."

"Let's think through this," Megumi proposed. "Kaoru-chan said that when you and Battousai merged together last night, it was through some kind of struggle? She described it as a 'hostile takeover'?"

"Yes, I suppose that's true," Kenshin admitted.

"Were you using the sakabatou then?"

"No. Battousai had _this_ sword here in the physical world; the sakabatou wouldn't have touched him."

"Yes but..." Megumi grasped at an idea that was just beginning to form in her brain. "If the two of you were able to recombine, maybe the swords needed to overlap as well?" She gave a little laugh. "Although I just pictured that—and—what would be the result? There's no way it could be a sakabatou and a regular katana at the same time. It would be a sword with a cutting edge on both sides—or on neither. When one sword started to come to the surface...the other one would have to disappear, wouldn't it?"

Kenshin took a quick breath. "That's it," he realized, picturing the two swords overlapped, trying to merge into one. "Sharp on both sides or dull on both sides—it can't be both." He looked at Megumi with new light in his eyes. "That's what happened to me. That's... how I am now, with the other side of myself."

"Hm," Megumi considered. "I was hoping we'd get to the bottom of that. How are you feeling, by the way?"

"A little... off-balance, to be honest."

"Dizziness? Vertigo?"

"Not that." Kenshin thought of how to explain it. "Battousai feels like my spirit is weighing him down. And I feel the speed and agility of my youth, but, my old wounds all feel...fresh. I keep thinking that my face is bleeding."

Megumi leaned forward. "Let me see," she asked flatly. Kenshin turned his cheek for her to inspect.

"You're fine," she determined. "But, let's go inside. If I've got you to myself tonight, you're getting a check-up."

" _Oi, Fox lady!_ " an overly loud—and completely familiar—voice called from outside the gate.

Megumi's face turned bright red. "For heaven's sake—that birdbrain! Of all nights!"

"Anybody home? Is there a doctor in the house?"

Megumi stomped out to greet him, hands on her hips. Sanosuke grinned at her as she opened the gate, a rather large jug hanging from his wrist. "Keep it down," she warned. "Children are sleeping!"

"Children? You baby-sitting Ayame and Suzume?" Sanosuke asked. "I heard that Gensai-sensei was spending a few days in Asakusa, so I figured maybe you had the night off, and, you know, might've wanted some company."

"Come in before the neighbors see you," Megumi scolded, pulling him in by the arm. "A drunken street-fighter banging on the gate at all hours of the night—what will people think?"

"Hey-hey," Sano protested, sloshing the jug around by its carrying-cord. "I'm not drunk—yet. Have a drink with me? Please?"

Megumi rolled her eyes. "Fine. A drink sounds fine. One drink."

"You got it. One jug, coming right up!" Sano teased happily, and then abruptly noticed their wide-eyed audience. "Eehh? _Kenshin?_ What are you doing here?"

"He's spending the night," Megumi said loftily, turning her head and lifting her chin in the air a little.

"Oro," Kenshin commented.

"What!" Sano nearly shouted. "Since when?!"

"Sanosuke— _shush_!" Megumi insisted. "Kenshin was helping me with some patients today—particularly with one case, involving a little girl, who really _is_ sleeping right inside. Please let's not wake her up."

"Okay, sorry," Sorry muttered, lowering his voice. "I'm just surprised Jou-chan lets him out this late." He looked over at Kenshin, tilting his head like a dog trying to understand a certain word. "Do you come over here often?"

"Not really," Kenshin answered. "Do you?"

Sano was taken aback. "Nah, hardly ever," he admitted at last. "There was one time, though..." his cheeks turned pink, and dared to look at Megumi, his eyes hoping for approval.

Megumi sighed and pressed one hand to her forehead. "Yes, one time. I had a bad week, lots of difficult cases. In a moment of weakness, I let this bird-head come over for drinks."

"Aw, don't say weakness," Sano pouted. "We had a good time. Anyway, since then, I've been waiting for the right moment... practiced that _'figured you might've wanted some company'_ line about a thousand times. How'd that sound, by the way?"

"Irresistible," Megumi dead-panned.

"Good, that's what I was going for," Sano beamed, missing or willfully ignoring her sarcasm. "Well, this is no problem. There's enough sake here for three. Kenshin, you'll join us?"

Kenshin smiled but shook his head. "No thank you," he said. "I have too much on my mind."

"Like what?" Sano asked, easing himself down onto the steps. He chose the second step from the top, which just so happened to put his head on level with Kenshin's.

Megumi took a seat next to Sano. "Despite being combined with Battousai, Ken-san has to figure out how to destroy the Shuei-gumi without killing anyone," she summarized.

"That yakuza?" Sano shrugged. "That's easy. If you can't trust yourself, send the rest of us. If it's not particularly urgent, just let it wait a few years, then turn Yahiko loose on them all by himself. He'll wipe 'em out."

Kenshin smiled at that. "I'm sure he would, but this cannot wait."

Sanosuke scrunched his face up, thinking. "I've got it. You're still a ghost just _possessing_ that Bakumatsu-boy's body, right? Do what we talked about before, and possess someone else. Not to fight against your hitokiri self, but to keep him from fighting at all. Does that make sense?"

"I thought you gave up on that," Kenshin pointed out, recalling their failed experiment.

"Well it doesn't have to be _me_ ," Sano grumbled. "Try someone else!"

Kenshin almost laughed as he pictured attempting to 'possess' Saitou Hajime in a battle, trying to convert all his strikes at the last minute to non-lethal hits. Somehow, he sensed that would be a disaster. "I'd actually like to stay in _this_ body, if I can," Kenshin said meekly.

"There's obviously Jou-chan, if you change your mind," Sano suggested. "She already knows kenjutsu and she's about the same size as you, anyway, so you'd probably fit together."

Now it was Kenshin's turn to blush, and Megumi smacked Sano in the back of the head.

"What are you saying, you stupid rooster?" she chided.

"Ow—what? No! No, I didn't mean, like, _that_. I meant, it would probably work."

Kenshin briefly tried to imagine borrowing Kaoru-dono's body to knock down the yakuza, hiten-mitsurugi and all. He shook his head. "Even if I could, I wouldn't," he said at last. "However-" he stood up, sliding his sword back into his belt, but leaving his left hand on the hilt- "Now that you're here, Sano, I will go home for tonight after all. I'll leave the protection of Megumi-dono and her patients up to you. I'm sure you can handle it."

"Nice, Kenshin, getting yourself out of the way, heh," Sano snickered, flashing a conspiratorial smile. "I owe you one."

Kenshin closed his eyes most of the way. "And, you had better stay out of trouble tonight. If you try anything out of line with Megumi-dono..."

He thumbed the guard of his sword and let the _snik!_ of the cracked-open blade convey the rest of his message.

"Sanosuke will be a perfect gentleman," Megumi guaranteed, repressing a giggle. "Thank you, Ken-san."

Kenshin nodded once and turned to slide open the door. "Oh, one more thing," Megumi spoke up. "Check on the little girl for me, before you go?"

Kenshin nodded again. "I'll do that," he said, and vanished into the house.

"...Yikes," Sano exhaled. "I mean, I'm pretty sure he was kidding, but, did Kenshin just go into ' _protective dad_ ' mode? Yeesh!"

"He was kidding, but I appreciate the sentiment all the same," Megumi smiled.

Sano's eyes were wide with alarm. "Can you imagine if he and Jou-chan had a daughter someday? Poor girl."

"Poor girl?!" Megumi folded her arms. "What on earth? Ken-san would be a wonderful father."

"I know, but, when she grew up-" Sano grimaced. "She'd be utterly untouchable! With _that_ for a dad? Men would die for looking at her, I bet!"

Megumi laughed. "I hardly think it would be as bad as all that. Ken-san will be a more normal swordsman by then, after all."

"Normal!" Sano scoffed. "What part of that red-haired idiot will ever be _normal_?!"

Kenshin let the warmth of Sano & Megumi's affable argument fade behind him. Turning his back on their conversation was like walking away from the heat of a campfire in the night. In one of the rooms up ahead was another tiny source of flame, literally in the lamp that Megumi had left in the little girl's room, but also within the pure glow of the child's life.

As Kenshin slid back the shoji, the girl looked up at him. She was awake! Eyes that were glassy and dull from the effects of the anesthetic abruptly widened in fear.

"Oh no, don't be afraid," Kenshin said. "I won't hurt you."

Her tiny chest began to heave under the blanket, and Kenshin noticed her eyes were locked on the hilt of his sword.

"Ah—I'll leave this out here," he said immediately, taking a half-step to the side so the weapon would be out of sight. Swiftly he set it down on the floor just outside the door, where the girl wouldn't see it. "There," he said, straightening up. "May I come in?"

The little girl looked confused for a second, but then nodded.

Kenshin stepped into the room, marveling at Megumi's skill with medicine. Judging by the child's face, she wasn't feeling any pain. "You're going to be all right," Kenshin reassured her. "There are good doctors here."

"You...a doctor?" the girl asked.

"No," Kenshin told her. "I'm a-" he caught himself, wondering what he had been about to say. "A friend," he finished. "The doctor is here, outside. Would you like to meet her?"

The girl shook her head. "Doctor's scary," she muttered.

Kenshin smiled. "Not this one," he promised. "This doctor is very kind. I'm sure she'll come and see you in a few minutes."

He saw something flicker in her eyes, a blank flash of horror. Not at the thought of meeting the doctor, Kenshin realized, but at semi-conscious memories of the trauma she'd endured. He had no doubt her round eyes were re-witnessing the events that had brought her here.

"There now, you're okay now," he said softly, as her eyes glazed over again with relative calm. The spell had passed.

"Bad dream?" the girl whispered. "Is it a bad dream?"

He shook his head. "No. You were seeing pieces from your memory. But, even though it really happened, it's over now. You survived."

The child showed no reaction. It was clear that 'survival' held no significance for her.

Kenshin sighed. "You don't know it yet, but you're lucky to be so young. In time, you may forget all of this. But for now, those flashes will likely be difficult."

Kenshin saw a tear welling in the girl's eye, and hoped his normal candor hadn't been too harsh for her. She was, after all, no more than five or six years old.

Suddenly, he remembered something.

"Ah, here-" he reached into his sleeve, and pulled something out, cupped in his hand. "Do you know what this is?" He had her full attention, and unfolded his hand to reveal the wooden top. "Watch this," he instructed, and cast the top where she could see it.

It worked. The top spun, seeming almost to hover, and the child was mesmerized, watching it spin and spin.

Kenshin felt something shift. He felt a sense of hope, of relief. The girl was watching the top, and he was watching her, glad that the simple wooden toy still held this strange soothing power. This little girl would heal, he was certain. A smile reached his eyes, and it felt different somehow, on his face. Where the smile tugged at the sides of his eyes, he felt the skin almost crease.

"Was that magic?" the girl asked, looking at him curiously.

"Not really," he said. "It seems like that, but it's just a toy." He scooped up the top to re-wind the string.

"No, the color-magic," the girl insisted. "You just did it. Do it again?"

" _Color?_ " Kenshin looked down. Fabric that had been navy blue had changed in an instant to mulberry-red, that evocatively imperial shade that was one golden chrysanthemum away from matching the Emperor's own standard. "This is...my old clothes are back," he realized.

And that feeling in the skin at the corners of his eyes—that was fifteen years of age catching up to him in a single blink. He didn't know how it happened, but he was himself again. The soul of the hitokiri that had lain dormant within him for ten years, that had somehow escaped into the physical world, and which he had forcibly reclaimed in the scuffle under the dojo, was once again missing.

And Kenshin couldn't help but worry about what that might mean.

He set the top next to the little girl's hand. "This is for you," he told her, and smiled as her tiny fingers wrapped around it. "I'm going to get the doctor, all right? She'll want to talk to you."

Just outside the door, his sword was waiting for him—the sakabatou. He collected it, grateful for its steady weight in his hand. But intuitively he sensed that this transformation wasn't as simple as his hitokiri self evaporating away—rather, the killing sword had been _taken_ , and the sakabatou, like Kenshin himself, had been left behind.

* * *

Ever since the fight under the dojo, when Battousai had lost the battle for control of his own body, he'd withdrawn as far as possible, sulking in the corner of Kenshin's mind and refusing to let his other self hear his thoughts. As he'd learned to do in the midst of all those boring chores, it was relatively easy for him to step back, willingly repressing his own consciousness. All day long, however, as his hijacked body visited patients with Megumi, Battousai had been wondering what his next move would be. The current situation, overlapped with Kenshin, was unsustainable.

Battousai knew he wasn't needed. Maybe, if he had enough of a soul, he could figure out how to move on, to the next world. Even if it was just the wasteland of bones glimpsed in his nightmares... maybe it was time for him to go.

But then he'd heard the story of what a certain 'hit squad' had been up to.

And now, Battousai was on a mission. He was going to the Shuei syndicate, and he was going to _get it over with_.

He finally knew why he was here; why the enigmatic forces of the spirit-world had seen fit to separate him, the killer, from the peace-hobbled rurouni. This mission was something Battousai alone could do.

There was something fitting about it, too, if this was to be the legendary hitokiri's final act. Arguably, he'd been set on his path of blood when rescued by Hiko Seijuuro as a child—and now he would use what Hiko had taught him in order to rescue other children. He would play the role of the hiten mitsurugi master; the yakuza were the bandits on the road. They were evil and Battousai would cut them down.

As he took a shortcut across a row of rooftops, he remembered that day at the waterfall, yelling at his master about why he had to leave. Why he had to act. He couldn't ignore the plight of the innocent. He felt just as strongly now, and it made him furious that his other self had sat around at the clinic and dithered over what to do, instead of taking immediate action. That unwillingness to act was unforgivable. It was opposite of everything he believed in. Kenshin's consciousness, occupying Battousai's body, had definitely rendered himself ' _dull on both sides_ '. Utterly useless.

Of course, if Battousai couldn't _corporealize_ himself now, he wouldn't be much use either.

Everything felt different now, compared to the first time he'd managed to 'step away' from Kenshin, five nights ago. That time, he'd made up his mind and walked out, invisible. A ghost. A few moments later, he'd turned visible and solid. It had happened on its own; he hadn't done anything to cause it. He had felt so tired.

Now, he was overflowing with energy. Five days of real food, real sleep, five days of being included in Kaoru's family had made Battousai feel alive. The only problem was that this time, after ditching his body back at the Oguni clinic, Battousai wasn't turning solid as he had before. He seemed to be somewhat translucent—the moonlight was shining through him a bit. He wondered if people would be able to see him.

If he was invisible, that would be just as well. No chance of a witness glimpsing red hair and blaming the Kamiya dojo's resident rurouni for the slaughter. But if he was just a spirit, as Kenshin had been the past few days...

The ghost of the hitokiri leapt from the last roof and landed at the Shuei-gumi's gate. This was the place. Just inside were dozens of men who had no idea that they were moments from death. Maybe, if they were lucky, were already asleep, and would never wake. But some of them, surely, would realize what was happening.

 _No screams_ , Battousai coached himself. _Be faster than ever before._ _This is the last thing you have to do._

He didn't bother with battoujutsu to draw his sword, he just tore it free of its sheath, holding it in one hand. The gate had thick posts, which would serve for a test.

In his current form, could he _cut?_

His steel sliced an arc of moonlight from the air. There was a stillness—the post had offered no resistance. Gritting his teeth, the ghost slashed through the gatepost once again, and this time, kicked it afterwards, in case the pieces had tried to seal back together in the wake of his blade.

But his foot sank into the wood. The post remained intact.

Enraged, he threw his cursed katana to the ground, and stomped on the hilt. " _I hate you_ ," he snarled at it, and gave it a kick which sent it spinning.

Making up his mind, he snatched the sword back up before it had a chance to come to rest. He wasn't giving up on his mission. He would figure out a way to get it done.

He tilted his head and glared over his shoulder, molten gold eyes blazing down the darkened street, in the direction of the Kamiya dojo.

It was time to try that other thing.

* * *

" _Kaoru-dono!_ " Kenshin had ran all the way back from the clinic, and didn't stop running until he was in the yard, Kaoru coming to meet him, arms outstretched. He caught her in a hug, pulling her in until her feet were almost off the ground. He held her tighter than he had ever dared before, and she wrapped her arms around him in kind, holding him just as tight.

"You made it back," Kaoru was saying. "I knew you would. I knew you'd come back, Kenshin!"

"I'm glad you're safe," Kenshin said, lifting his chin off her shoulder and easing her back a few inches.

"Safe? Why wouldn't I be?" she searched his face. "What happened to Battousai?"

"I'm not sure," Kenshin admitted. "He got free again, and I was worried he might have come back here."

"Haven't seen him," Kaoru remarked. "But, why would that worry you? Did something happen?"

He briefly explained about the Shuei-gumi, and the decision he had been wrestling with—a decision he knew the soul of the hitokiri would have had no problem making.

"But with Battousai gone-" Kaoru spoke up, and glanced down at the comfortingly familiar hilt at his side. "-and with your sakabatou, you can go beat up that filthy yakuza to your heart's content!"

They were still holding each other by the arms, as if each were afraid the other might float away if they let go. "My heart's content has nothing to do with beating any yakuza," Kenshin told her, making her blush. "But I can't discount the possibility that Battousai has taken it upon himself to go there and finish them. He might even be killing them already—and if that's the case, I'm going to try to stop him. But I had to make sure you were all right first. Because you're far more important to me than anything else."

"I-" Kaoru's heart skipped a beat, and for a split second Kenshin saw all the stars of the heavens reflected in her eyes. Then her expression of determination took over, even more beautiful to Kenshin than the starriest sky. "I want to help," she said. "What do you need?"

"If it's what I think, I don't want you to see it," Kenshin told her. "Stay here, and if Battousai returns, convince him to stand down. Tell him—tell him to wait for Saitou. Maybe he'll agree to that."

"Saitou-san is involved?" Kaoru asked, surprised. "All right. I've got this. You go."

"Thank you," Kenshin said, nodding his head slightly. "And-" words failed him. She was looking into his eyes. Her strength, he felt, was holding him up. Face to face like this, holding each other by the arms... _Farewell,_ he had told her once.

"And," Kaoru covered for him. "See you later?"

"Yes," he promised. At the same time, they squeezed each other's arms, and let go.

At the gate he turned and looked back at her. "Stay safe," he said. "I'll be home as soon as I can."

"Okay," Kaoru nodded, and off he went, taking the wind and very air with him.

A sense of impending action remained behind, thick like a fog.

Kaoru frowned, scanning the trees above the dojo's walls. Was something watching her?

She retreated into the house, deciding to change into her training clothes. Just in case, she wanted to be ready to fight.

* * *

As soon as she tied her hakama, she heard his voice.

" _Good, you're alone._ "

Kaoru gasped and spun around. Battousai was in her room. He hadn't opened the door.

He'd walked through the wall.

"Hello," Kaoru greeted him, refusing to be afraid. "How, ah, how are you?" She noticed she could sort of _see through_ him. He walked towards her, his steps not making any sound.

"I need you to do something for me," he said, and held his sheathed katana out to her, hilt first. "I need to see if you can hold this."

"Eh? Hold it?" Kaoru asked, blinking. The sword appeared to be just as translucent as the ghost himself. She was fairly certain her hand would pass through it. "All right, I'll give it a try," she said willingly enough, and reached forward to wrap her hand around the hilt.

It turned real in her grasp, hard and cold as ice under the braided cords of the grip. "Got it," she uttered in surprise.

"Perfect," Battousai muttered. " _And in that case..._ "


	13. Chapter 13: hitokiri Kaoru

Chapter 13: hitokiri Kaoru

* * *

The ghostly hitokiri was closing the distance between them, moving towards her with his hands at his sides. Kaoru didn't know what this was about, but she stood her ground. She closed her other hand around the katana, two thirds of the way down the sheath, holding it slightly away from her body. She knew she wouldn't feel right about drawing it and actually pointing it at him, but perhaps she could use it as a bar, to shove him away.

Not that she expected anything like that to work against a ghost.

"A few nights ago, you challenged me to test you," Battousai reminded her, voice low.

" _Consider this your test._ " His eyes burned into hers. "Can you..." his soft voice faded out, as he faltered over how to say the rest of his thought: _Can you... contain me?_

"Ehh?" Kaoru made a face. "Test? What are you talking about? What are you trying to do?"

"I need to borrow your body," he said, and glanced away in annoyance as that damned wind-chime on the porch seemed to ring in alarm.

"Excuse me?" she turned neon-pink, her cheeks glowing almost as bright as his eyes. "Did you say, _my body_?" She looked down at herself and then back up at him in disbelief.

"Kenshin _took over_ mine," Battousai muttered. "That's why I need _yours_ , for a little while. There's something I need to do."

"Let me guess: you need to go murder the Shuei yakuza?" She dropped her defensive hold on the sword and crossed her arms, still gripping the weapon with one hand. "Well, too bad. I won't let you."

"All the same, I'll do it," he told her flatly.

"Nope, nope, nope." Kaoru closed her eyes and stuck her nose in the air. "There's no way. There's no way you would hurt me."

"You're right," Battousai agreed. "This won't hurt you at all."

"But—you're saying you'd _use me_ to actually kill people!?" Kaoru felt a shimmer of anger rising in her heart. "That's insane. And it's _wrong_. You know it's wrong. _Kenshin_ , you know this is wrong!"

In three steps he had her backed against the wall, both of her hands clutching the sword vertically between them. "The one doing the killing will be _me_. You could even be unconscious. It won't be your fault," he told her.

She stared into his eyes, ocean blue defying an inferno of gold. "Please," she said, from the bottom of her heart. "Do not do this."

His eyes narrowed, leaning closer to her face. The corner of his mouth twitched once, that flicker of cruelty.

"Do you think hearing the word ' _please_ ,'" he breathed, voice dropping to a growl, "Ever stopped _the hitokiri Battousai?_ "

Kaoru gulped, her confidence in what she was dealing with wavering for the first time.

"Give up," he ordered.

She couldn't look at those eyes anymore. She scrunched hers shut. "I won't."

She made a break for it, thinking she'd twist past him and run for the door—but his arms reached through hers in the instant that she moved, seeming to grab onto her very bones. She found herself jerked back against the wall.

"Turn around," he said. "It will be easier."

" _You_ turn around," Kaoru threw back at him, indignant.

"Fine," he said, and dipped his shoulder into hers. She felt a sort of a fuzzy pressure, as his back began to push through her chest. There was an almost electric tingle as the back of one of his legs overlapped the front of hers—moving through— _through_ -

She had a sudden idea for an escape. She could run _through_ him, maybe, in the confusion of their merging together.

Crying out, she sprang forward, and fell to her knees. The sword clattered away from her on the floor. She felt a jolt along her spine, an unmistakable feeling of something connecting, locking into place—and at the same instant, a tumult of sounds and images exploded in her head, a fireworks show of memories.

In that instant, Battousai was lost in a dizzying whirl of thoughts and emotions. It hadn't been anything like this, when he merged with Kenshin. Of course that was because they had the same memories. Now—he saw Kaoru's dead mother, laid out for her funeral. Kaoru's father, relentlessly swinging his shinai, over and over. The white cat, curling around Kaoru's ankle. He saw Kaoru's fist punching another girl in the mouth, felt the seething heat of the fourteen-year-old Kaoru's fury in that moment, and the hollow weight of her shame and regret in the aftermath. He felt her pride, as her father granted her the position of shihandai. And her grief, with Gensai-sensei and Tae-san comforting her, the day she learned her father had fallen on the battlefield. And then, even more tears of loss—this time, for Kenshin, as he walked away into the dark.

The emotion was devastating. He couldn't stand it. Blindly he groped for his katana and clung to it, forehead pressed to the floor.

Meanwhile, Kaoru was on an even crazier ride. An image of a little cottage, a farm—shadowy faces of kids, _siblings_ , half-forgotten. And a man—Kenshin's father-no- _Shinta's_ father, ruffling his son's red hair. Shinta's mother, her amethyst eyes, smiling. Then darkness—three girls trying to shield him, pleading for him to live. A billow of white: Hiko Seijuuro's cape. There were memories of pain, growth, gaining strength and skill and anger. The waterfall—then memories of blood. Bloody mist in the air, blood on his hand, from the cut on his face. Kiyosato Akira crying on the ground. Blood in the gutters. Blood in the snow.

Battousai realized where she was in his head and shut it all down, forcing himself to turn the memories off. Kaoru was panting for breath, he realized, and so was he—with the same pair of lungs.

Had it worked?

He got to his feet, forcing Kaoru's body to stand. _I can't believe you're really doing this_ , Kaoru shouted accusingly in his head. _You won't get away with it!_

"Shut up," he muttered, speaking from Kaoru's mouth.

 _So rude!_ she fumed. _Not to mention, indecent. Did you forget I'm a girl?_

"I didn't forget. I just don't care. I considered Yahiko, but you're stronger than him. More experienced in kenjutsu. I should be able to get more out of you—more speed, more precision. Your height is perfect too. It's what I'm used to."

He bent his knees a little bit, twisted the ball of one foot against the floor, then the other. Then he turned his hips, sinking into the motion a little.

 _Mou, just what are you doing?_ Kaoru demanded.

"This is good," he decided. "Good hips."

Something twitched in his right hand—Kaoru's spirit exerting itself—and suddenly that hand was crunched into a fist, heading towards his face at top speed. He managed to block it with his left, and got things back under control.

 _How dare you?!_ Kaoru raged. _You don't tell a woman, 'good hips', you, you, you brat!_

Without a word, Battousai tucked his katana at his side, slid his feet apart, crouched- and then unsheathed the blade at such a speed, there was first a _rush_ , then a rumble, and then all the paper walls of the room burst into shreds, exploding outward into the other parts of the house.

Dust fell from the ceiling beams.

Witnessing this, as a prisoner trapped in her own head, Kaoru was left momentarily speechless. Then she gathered her wits. _Stop wrecking my house!_

"Good shoulders too," Battousai deemed. "This will work."

The sound of running feet in the hall—the hitokiri cursed under his breath.

 _Yahiko!_ Kaoru realized.

"Kaoru!" Yahiko skidded to a halt at the blown-open door to her room. "What happened? Are you okay?"

He squinted into the darkness of the room, taking a good look at the shadowy form standing in the midst of the destruction. "Ka... Kaoru?" It _looked_ like Kaoru, but the stance, the posture, the slightly downward tilt of the head—and the gleaming katana in her hand—that all looked like someone else.

"No," Battousai answered.

Yahiko gulped. "How... _what are you?_ Explain this!"

The ghost turned to look at him, a distant amber glow burning behind Kaoru's eyes. "Do you remember when you asked me if I could possess people?"

Yahiko felt a drop of sweat slide down his neck. "Uh, yeah," he replied.

"As it turns out... I can," Battousai informed him.

"So you're _inside of_ ," Yahiko's face turned red. "Wait—that sounds wrong. You're like, _on top of_ —no that's just as bad—you're haunting _Kaoru_?! Why?!"

"Do you remember what else we talked about? The yakuza that used to own you?"

"What about them?" the boy demanded.

"The world will be a better place if they die," the hitokiri reasoned. "And I have the ability to kill them."

"But..." Yahiko searched Kaoru's face, hoping for any sign that the energetic assistant master of Kamiya Kasshin-ryu was still in there, somewhere. "You'd use her for that? Even though she's a girl and everything?"

Battousai considered him, squared feet and shoulders giving nothing away. "Would you rather I use _you_?"

Yahiko balked. Three ideas began to coagulate in his mind—first, the obvious duty of chivalry, as a male, to offer himself in Kaoru's place to preserve whatever might be left of her dignity. Equally as compelling, the sudden offer of revenge against those who had beaten and abused him... though Kenshin praised Yahiko for not holding a grudge, his young heart _did_ have some of the darkness common in all humans, that surged at the prospect of finally punishing the people—the _animals_ —who had spread that disease to his mother, who had mocked her when she died from it...even as he remembered all he had suffered at their hands, Yahiko knew it was wrong to rejoice at the thought of their slaughter. Wrong, but part of him wanted it. Part of him fantasized about how gratifying it would be for him, Myoujin Yahiko, to return to the Shuei-gumi and lay them to waste. Kenshin wouldn't approve, and neither would Kaoru, but...

And there was the third idea, that tantalizing possibility—Kaoru watched it appear in Yahiko's eyes, realized what he was imagining—the thought of having, of experiencing, of _tapping into_ that god-like speed, that awesome strength...

 _No!_ Kaoru cried out, from the back of Battousai's mind. _You can't let him. You can't let Yahiko feel any part of what it's like to use your skills. You know how desperately he wants to be stronger—if you give him that taste of power, you'll ruin him forever._

But Yahiko had made up his mind. "Y-yes," he said bravely, a little edge of hunger in his eyes. "Leave Kaoru alone, and use me instead."

" _kh..._." The hitokiri stepped forward, an inscrutable flicker at the corner of his mouth once again. Yahiko tensed and clenched his eyes shut as Battousai reached towards him, but then opened them again as Kaoru's palm patted him on the head, exactly the same as Kenshin had done—much to Yahiko's chagrin—the first day Yahiko had met him. "It's noble of you," Battousai told him. "But no. Kaoru-dono's body is taller, after all. Now... let's go."

"Let's go?" Yahiko echoed, incredulous. "You want me to come along?"

"I'm not going to bother with preventing you. Unlike Kenshin, I don't care if you see what I am."

Yahiko swallowed, and started to feel the first twinge of guilt over the excitement that was creeping up in his blood, in his heart. The chance to witness the legendary hitokiri, the strongest Ishin-shishi, in action... Yahiko couldn't pretend that was something he didn't want to see with his own eyes.

 _Wait_ , Kaoru called out as her body headed out of her room, Yahiko fetching his shinai and falling into step beside her. _Wait—shouldn't you wait for Saitou-san?_

 _No_ , Battousai thought back at her.

 _You haven't thought this through_ , she cautioned. _Kenshin will never forgive you for this!_

"He'll never forgive me for anything," Battousai remarked aloud, earning a strange look from Yahiko.

Kaoru thought about that for a minute, wondering sadly if it was true. As they put their sandals on and headed into the yard, Kaoru was scraping for anything else she could say to delay him, to make him reconsider his course of action, when an unexpected sound made her gasp.

" _Mmrraaoow!_ "

She caught a flash of white at the corner of her eye, the fleeting curl of a tail-

 _Miko-miko!?_ The ghost of little Kaoru's pet cat—it had to be! _Wait!_ She begged again. _Stop—wait-it's Miko-miko! Please—just for a minute-let me see her!_

"We're not stopping for that," Battousai scoffed at her. "It's the ghost of a thing that's been dead ten years."

 _So are you!_ Kaoru retorted, and put her foot down, literally.

Battousai's foot made a short furrow in the dirt of the yard, as Kaoru's spirit stopped him in his tracks. Before he realized it, Kaoru had reasserted control of her body and was turning back towards the porch.

The white cat was there, swishing its tail, eyes as luminous as the moon.

"Miko-miko!" Kaoru exclaimed.

" _Eh?_ " Yahiko squinted at the empty porch, unable to see whatever Kaoru or Battousai was looking at. "What's a 'miko-miko'?"

Kaoru ignored her student's question. "Oh, come here!" She called to the cat, reaching out her arms. "I can't believe it... what are you doing here?"

" _Nnyaaow_ ," replied the cat, with infinite dignity. It blinked at her, and then must have sensed that something was off-a look of disgust passed over its feline face. It hissed at her, its eyes squeezing to slits- it bared its pointed teeth, and bolted away.

"What?" Kaoru was taken aback. "Wait—no-"

And that was all the opportunity Battousai needed to make a move, fighting her consciousness for dominance. She grabbed the sides of her head, hunching over as if in pain. "Kyaa! Get out!" she cried. "I will not let you—this is _my_ -"

Yahiko realized what was happening. "Come on, Kaoru!" he cheered. "Fight him, Kaoru! You can do it!"

But even as he said the words, he realized it was no use. The struggle ceased, and Kaoru's body straightened up. Her head gave a little shake, causing the end of her dark ponytail to snap side-to-side in a very un-Kaoru-like way.

"Dammit," Battousai panted under his breath. "I can't believe you were able to do that."

 _Believe it!_ Kaoru jabbed at him. _And if I can do it once, I can do it again. I'll get control of you at just the right moment, you'll see._

 _I wouldn't count on it,_ Battousai warned her silently. _What I just did to you, I learned when Kenshin did it to me. And I wasn't able to get around it after that._

Yahiko crossed his arms. "Hey, 'hitokiri Kaoru' or whatever you are... what was that all about?"

"Nothing," Battousai said.

Yahiko narrowed his eyes. "You know... you're pretty horrible, taking over someone's body by force."

"Horrible?" Battousai repeated blankly. "You haven't seen me do 'horrible' yet. And if you don't want to see it, you better stay here."

Yahiko stuck out his lower lip. "I'll come see it," he grumbled, feeling dirty for saying so.

They took off towards the Shuei-gumi's lair.

* * *

When Kenshin arrived at the syndicate's headquarters, it only took him a matter of moments to determine that Battousai was not there—but another fearsome remnant of the Bakumatsu _was,_ under the assumed identity of 'Fujita Goro.'

"Hello again," Saitou greeted, the lit end of his cigarette emerging from the darkness well ahead of the rest of him. Narrow eyes evaluated Kenshin at a glance. The ex-hitokiri was crouched in the shadows, peering through a gap in the wall where he had a good view into the Shuei-gumi's compound. "...I see," Saitou remarked. "It's _you_. You've managed to lose that 'killer's soul' of yours again. How _do_ you keep switching back and forth? Must be exhausting. And where does he go, I wonder? Is he stalking through the town? Sulking on a rooftop? Loitering in the middle of a bridge?"

An image came to Kenshin's mind. "One can only hope," he said, "That he's asleep on the porch at the dojo."

Saitou stared at him, and then gave a cough that was nearly a laugh. "Is that a joke?" he asked. "Do you actually think that you... _split apart_? You may be in even worse shape than I thought."

Ignoring the taunt, Kenshin changed the subject. "I thought you said this would be tomorrow night."

"I did. Which leaves _tonight_ for scouting the place out, as you seem to have concluded for yourself." Saitou stated, slow wisps of smoke rising around his face.

Kenshin returned his attention to the darkened buildings within the walls of the compound. "How many men?" he asked at last.

"Between forty and fifty," Saitou informed him. "Certainly no challenge for the two of us. That is, if you can coax your 'other self' to come out and participate. I _do_ intend to shed blood."

"What about jailing them?" Kenshin's jaw clenched. "Maiming them, even? Anything to spare their lives, give them a chance to change?"

" _Change?_ " Saitou's tone expressed very clearly what he thought of that possibility. "You know there's no room for _change_ in the justice of _aku-soku-zan_. And didn't you beat these thugs up once before, when you kidnapped their best little pickpocket from them? How much 'change' did that get out of them? _Feh_."

Kenshin hung his head. It was true—although he had been able to rescue Yahiko from them, these evil men hadn't learned their lesson. "And how many children are there?" Kenshin asked, voice low.

"They had ten, counting Eiji," Saitou related. "So with him safely at home, and the boy and girl at the Oguni clinic, only seven kids remain in the compound."

"Good," Kenshin breathed. "We'll get them out, but... where will they go, afterwards?"

Saitou exhaled a long cloud of smoke. "I'm sure this syndicate has some sort of property for the government to confiscate," he offered at last. "From the sale of the Shuei-gumi's assets, someone in the government could make sure the money goes towards feeding the kids."

"'Someone'," Kenshin repeated forlornly, "in the government."

Now Saitou looked annoyed. "Yes, _the government_. Which is still looking for competent people to help manage it, by the way, if you ever want to stop feeling sorry for yourself and do something useful again."

Kenshin didn't reply. When it came to government positions, they were going to keep offering, and he was going to keep refusing.

The pitiful sound of a child's wail interrupted the night, and Kenshin's left hand tightened around the sakabatou at his side.

"Don't be reckless," Saitou warned. "That doesn't sound like pain."

"No," Kenshin agreed. "But..."

From inside the nearest of the yakuza's buildings, there was the sound of shuffling, of fabric being rustled. " _Dammit_ ," groused a man's voice, just barely audible through the walls. " _Where's Gasuke?_ "

There were a few other groggy-sounding voices, more shuffling, footsteps, and the sounds of several doors sliding open. " _Oi, Gasuke!_ _It's those damn kids again, waking me up for the third night in a row. I don't care how you do it, if you have to gag them or what—just shut them up_."

" _Fine_ ," groaned another voice in answer. " _I'll see how they good they cry with their throats cut._ "

" _Just clean up the mess this time_ ," the first voice ordered in disdain, followed by a door ramming shut.

Kenshin had heard enough. He moved to get up, and found Saitou's hand on his shoulder.

"Easy," the former Shinsengumi captain said. Kenshin looked up and noticed that the old wolf's attention was directed at something behind them, his predatory gaze locked on with such focus, Kenshin knew immediately that whatever it was, it was dangerous.

And in the next instant, he felt the presence of something truly formidable padding towards him in the dark. He was reminded of the looks on the faces of countless samurai who were astute enough to recognize that energy, that projection of deadly intent—the glimmer of fear, the tensing of the shoulders, the quivering of the hands—Kenshin had seen the effect of that presence a hundred times, but this was his first time being on the receiving end.

" _Hoh_ ," Saitou sucked on his cigarette. "Interesting."

"Kenshin!" Yahiko called, his earnest and unafraid spirit breaking into the bizarre flume of deadly ki. The boy came trotting up, shinai slung across his back, and Kenshin didn't have time to wonder what he was doing there. Instinctively he moved to guard the boy, placing himself between Yahiko and _that presence._

Yahiko opened his mouth to pass on some important information, but was distracted by the metallic hiss of a sword being drawn. Back there, in the dark—a glint of steel, a rush of air, the sound of someone breaking into a run.

Kenshin knew he had only a split second to act. He slid his foot forward, leaned into his own gathered ki, and unsheathed the sakabatou. A shockwave rippled across the ground, but the approaching assailant leapt up—

-and easily jumped right over Kenshin's head, and right over the wall behind him, into the midst of the Shuei-gumi's compound.

* * *

...to be continued!


	14. Chapter 14: Katsu Shin

Chapter 14: Katsu Shin

* * *

Whatever _that_ had been—it had looked exactly like Kaoru.

With an expression of shock plastered on his face, Kenshin kicked off the ground and vaulted the wall in pursuit.

Left behind, Yahiko and Saitou looked at each other.

"Interesting...interesting!" Saitou repeated, growing more animated. Then he laughed, any thought of stealth or reconnaissance abandoned. He laughed so hard he actually had to bend forward at the waist, and bang his palm against his knee.

"What—what's so funny?" Yahiko demanded, unnerved by such jovial behavior.

"So it's true after all," Saitou remarked, a chuckle in his voice. "He really did split apart. And the soul of the hitokiri has found... a more suitable host!" He broke into another bout of laughter. "I should have realized. After the Kurogasa incident, I should have seen it! I doubt that pitiful 'rurouni' even knows—the reason he ended up here, with her."

"The reason?" Yahiko asked, dumbfounded. "What do you mean?"

"Because _she's a match for him_ ," Saitou's eyes blazed with conviction. "That girl's sword-spirit is a match... for the spirit of Himura Battousai!"

The sound of slashing, the crash of toppled screens and the tearing of rice paper—and then screams, brought their attention back to the compound. "Dammit!" Yahiko cursed. "It's happening. Let's go!"

"Wait," the old wolf instructed. "I believe one of the vermin is headed our way."

Sure enough, Yahiko detected the frantic sounds of someone running towards the wall from the other side, and then, a muffled " _hmmp_!" and a pair of hands appeared over the top. An instant later, a face appeared, dim in the moonlight, and a man struggled to pull himself up.

"Screw this," the fleeing man muttered from the top of the wall, seeming to think he was alone. "I'm out. If those kids survive, I'll kill 'em tomorrow."

Yahiko recognized that voice, and the man's silhouette—and then in the next instant, as the deserter jumped down, Saitou Hajime's _gatotsu_ darted up and skewered him through the heart.

There was a gurgling cry of surprise, a look of terror in the man's eyes, and he managed to bring one hand up to grip the blade impaling his chest.

The dying man's feet dragged on the ground as Saitou pulled his arm back, sword and victim and all. "Hn. Coward," the former Shinsengumi captain sneered to the man's petrified face, and then narrowed his eyes in concentration. "But I know you have a spine in there _somewhere_."

As Yahiko watched in horror, Saitou's elbow shifted, and the edge of his sword _hunted around_ inside its victim, digging and sawing sideways through the chest until it caught against the vertebrae. Saitou's eyes sparked. "Ah. There."

One violent jerk to the side, the spine was cut, the man went limp, and Saitou let the corpse slide off his blade.

Yahiko dropped to his knees.

"That would be the end of 'hitokiri Gasuke'," Saitou sighed, already wiping his blade clean on a handkerchief. "And good riddance." He hadn't even lost the cigarette from his mouth. He spared a glance at the Myoujin boy, the student of that very interesting girl. "If my sources are right, this cretin may have done some damage to you in the past," Saitou remarked.

Yahiko trembled at a surge of unwelcome memories. That leering face. Gasuke had been the worst of them. The others had kicked and cuffed him, but Gasuke had made him bleed. He'd called Yahiko his _little dog._ The man's hands, his fists, the blunt end of the trick staff that he always carried around. Yahiko remembered the grind of the heel of Gasuke's sandal on the side of his face. The last confrontation the man had with him—insulting Yahiko's parents, asking him if he took after _the fool or the whore..._

"You killed him," Yahiko stated the obvious.

"You're welcome," Saitou replied, with half an amused grin.

Yahiko was staring at the widening pool of blood, black against the ground in the moonlight. "I didn't ask you to," he said, not looking up.

"Nobody asked me to." The old wolf let a lungful of smoke escape into the night, and realized the kid needed a little more to hang onto. "I did it because I believe in swift death to evil. If _you_ believe in something different, then... just make sure it's something strong enough to get the job done."

Yahiko took a breath, forced his hands to unclench from the fists he hadn't remembered making, and stood up. He met Saitou's eyes.

"...Right," he said, with a terse nod. "I understand."

" _Hoh_ ," Saitou's grin spread itself across the rest of his face. He sensed something from this boy, something familiar. A warrior's soul. "So the samurai live on," he mused, approving. "In five or ten years, I'd like to see what you make of yourself."

"I'm more worried about the next five or ten minutes," Yahiko said. "We should go help."

Saitou dropped the remainder of his cigarette into the puddle of blood at his feet. The tiny orange glow went out. "You used to live here, didn't you? Lead the way."

* * *

As soon as Kenshin had landed on the other side of that wall, the sounds of disaster were already audible ahead of him. Crashing, tearing—the sound of blood spattering against the paper walls, traveling at such velocity that each wet rip sounded like a handful of dry rice thrown against a stone floor. And cursing—men were scrambling for weapons, shouting orders—a child still cried from somewhere, having awoken from one nightmare into the throes of another.

From every door, people were trying to escape. Two men tumbled out of the building and began crawling across the yard, blubbering. Their feet dragged behind them, leaving bloody streaks—attached only by the bones. The tendons at the backs of their ankles had been sliced all the way through.

Kenshin barged into the first room, people scrambling around him. He noticed a little dead lump of flesh on the floor—someone's thumb?!—and other fingers, scattered and leaking across the tatami. The next room—confusion, wounded people, arcs of blood on the shoji, dripping. More severed fingers and thumbs on the floor and one sword abandoned with half a hand left behind on the hilt. Someone else noticed that sword and picked it up, the portion of hand flopping away. "Leave that," Kenshin ordered, pushing ahead. "And get out!"

The man didn't have to be told twice. He dropped the weapon and fled with a dozen others, screaming.

Ahead—fighting!—some of them had banded together to resist, or been cornered into combat. He saw the back of Kaoru's head, the back of her shoulders, dwarfed by eight gangsters encircling her with swords drawn.

" _Kaoru-dono!_ "

Before her name was even out of his mouth, Kenshin watched her move so fast she almost vanished, going around the circle of her opponents from one to the next, slicing knees and wrists, weaving her sword through all of theirs as they stabbed and slashed at the empty air where she'd been a split second before. She wound up facing away from the last one. As his sword came down she blocked it behind her shoulder, pivoted underneath the crossed blades, crouched, wrenched her sword down and raked it across the man's kneecaps, all in one blink.

The man crumbled, screaming, and Kaoru was left low to the ground, sword held out parallel to the floor in one hand. Kenshin saw it, felt it and smelled it at the same instant: the mist in the air, the fine droplets settling on Kaoru-dono's shoulders, speckling her white gi. A rain of blood, caused by the sheer speed of the sword. Kenshin had never wanted to feel that mist on his face ever again. But here it was. _He_ had done this. Again. He had caused this. And worst of all, this time, he'd used _her._

The defeated gangsters were screeching, clutching their spurting wrists, scrambling over one another to escape. "Go," Kenshin told them, swatting aside one or two of their blades that were raised uncertainly towards him.

Kaoru stood, gave the katana in her hand that flick to shake away the excess blood, painting a fresh wet splat on the floor.

Kenshin didn't want to believe it. He'd thought he'd seen her _dead,_ once, and it had broken him. But _this_ , this offense, this violation—making Kaoru-dono do _this—_

It was unforgivable. Unforgivable. _Unforgivable._

"What have you done?" he asked the specter of his other self, anger rising in a wave within him, overflowing into his voice. "How many times must you _take_ from me—"

"Kenshin," she interrupted. Her voice, but not her. He could sense what this was, who was there.

"Enough." The blood was in his nose, in his eyelashes. He was supposed to have beaten that part of himself, the hitokiri deep in his heart. He was supposed to have beaten the one who made the rain of blood—when he decided to value his own life as much as any other, when he learned the ultimate secret—if he hadn't defeated the killer then-

He would do it now.

The sakabatou moved monstrously fast, forcing the killing sword into defense. She kept up with him, her feet sliding back, dodging left and right and _down_ , hiding behind her hilt.

Only against Seta Sojiro, and Captain Okita of the Shinsengumi, had Kenshin ever contended with anyone as small and fast as himself. For the first time he decided to try to press the advantage of weight over his opponent, leaning onto his sword against hers, but then remembered, a split second too late, how Hiko had made sure that such boorish tactics would never work against him. She dropped beneath him, taking her center of gravity all the way down. Her knees hit the floor. He recognized this— _hanmi handachi waza_ —and she had him by the wrist, her own sword protecting her arms and head, and Kenshin was trapped.

He would turn with the throw, or break his wrist. He turned, took the flip, landed on his feet—but she was free and on her feet as well, rushing in. She went low again, a sweeping slice, and he backtracked, blocking her. He ran out of space and was glad for the sudden thud of a wooden column between his shoulders. As she closed the space between them, he glanced up, looking for somewhere to go, and jumped.

The killing sword wedged into the wooden column, and got stuck a few inches in. Before Kenshin had even gotten back down to the floor, Kaoru had both of her feet up on the column, crouching against it and holding herself up by the hilt of the embedded sword, and aligned her body so the blade was at her side, approximately where it would be if it was in its sheath instead of lodged four feet off the ground in a wooden post.

Her upper body strength alone wouldn't be enough to dislodge that sword, but the explosive draw of perfect battoujutsu—

" _eeeh-yaah!_ " She coiled, then _pulled_ , and with a _crack_ like a lightning bolt the sword ripped through the wood. A ring of dust sped away from her across the floor. The rafters creaked, the roof settled, and Kenshin thought for a minute that she'd pulled the entire building down with that one draw. But no—the cut through the support column was perfectly level, and the top part was resting on the bottom, no risk of collapse.

She was a blur. By instinct alone Kenshin raised his sword in defense.

One-two-three- _four_ strikes in incredibly rapid succession—the razor edge of the katana bit uselessly at its backwards brother, and Kenshin felt in the resonance of those strikes the certainty that the sakabatou's steel was stronger.

As she raised her sword two-handedly over her head, Kenshin blocked her blade with his own, switched to a one-handed grip on the sakabatou, and grabbed the hilt of the katana between her hands, pulling her in.

" _Let her go,_ " Kenshin yelled at the gleam of yellow deep in Kaoru's eyes.

"That's not it," Kaoru said, quick shake of her head sending her ponytail swishing from side to side. "Don't you get it?"

She also dropped to a single-handed grip, and grabbed the hilt of the sakabatou. The blades sparked against each other, caught in an 'X', and they each turned to their right—in a silver flash, the ends of their swords arced down, tracing the shape a butterfly's wings in the air. Kenshin looked at her over his shoulder and found her looking back at him from an identical position. Then she _sunk_ —and if she was going to constantly go _low_ , he knew he would have to do the same—they spun on their knees— _seiza waza_ —back-to-back for an instant, and if seen from above their blades traced a coverleaf-each sword completing a horizontal figure 8 before locking together in the center again.

" _How long will you fight yourself?_ " Kaoru demanded, as her sword rattled against his, the first sign of muscle fatigue in her arms. She cried out, dipped her sword underneath his and pushed up, wasting an enormous amount of energy to bring them both up to their feet.

" _eeeeyyh_!" deliberately, she scraped the katana's edge all the way down the sakabatou's length, the steel singing. Then, their swords out to one side, she kicked at his knee. He bent and turned with the move, minimizing the impact, but also turning his feet—and that was where she wanted him. She jammed her foot against his hip and kicked.

He hadn't realized he'd been so close to the wall, so it surprised him when he broke through it and found himself rolling over his shoulder in the yard. He got the sakabatou up in time, braced over his head, fully prepared for the ensuing _ryu-tsui-sen_ that should have been crashing down upon him. But instead of hurtling down from twenty feet in the air, Kaoru was walking towards him, sword held up on level with her face, pointing directly at him.

Kenshin got to his feet and mirrored her stance. "Kaoru-dono. I will beat him," he told her. " _I will stop him_."

"That is completely wrong!" Kaoru yelled, and lunged—but it was feint, aiming to make him strike at her, and he fell for it. The sakabatou came down on a collision course with her head, when out of nowhere her wrists came up, _crossed_ , and she caught his sword between the backs of her fists, her own katana still held tightly in her right hand.

Wide-eyed, Kenshin realized where he'd seen that before.

"Kamiya Kasshin-ryu: _hadome_ ," Kaoru recited, and slowly lowered the sakabatou to her shoulder, where she released it.

Kenshin pulled his sword back and lowered it the rest of the way, away from her.

"You're wrong about stopping him," she said clearly, though her breathing was ragged. "That's not how it's supposed to be. I told you it would be _my_ job to stop him." She whirled the killing sword around and re-sheathed it, slipping it gracefully into its saya. "And... _I did_." The katana _shhk-_ ed, its closing click an echo of her words.

" _Kenshin!_ " Yahiko came dashing around the corner of the building. "We've got trouble!"

"What is it?" Kaoru asked first.

"They've got hostages," Yahiko panted. "It's the kids!"

* * *

On the other side of the compound, a tense scene was in progress. Three men lay dead against the wall after ignoring Saitou's orders. The rest had gotten the message and surrendered. More than twenty of them, seriously wounded, huddled together on the ground at Saitou's feet, wrapping their butchered hands and legs with bandages made from hastily torn sleeves. A dozen or so others, miraculously un-injured, were laying flat on their stomachs with their hands behind their heads, guarded by Yahiko's shinai.

By Saitou's estimation, there could be up to ten men left unaccounted for, somewhere on the premises. His lip curled in annoyance. If they were hiding, they'd have to be rooted out. He rather hoped they'd try to make a stand.

Suddenly from a door of an adjacent building, a group of gangsters burst into the yard, and Saitou realized he'd got his wish—except each man held a child captive against his chest, and held a knife or sword to an innocent throat.

Saitou looked down at Yahiko. "Run and get Himura," he instructed.

Yahiko nodded and sprinted away.

Saitou stared at the group of hostage-takers. "You'll put those children down," he announced with authority. "If you want to live."

"Yeah, sure," the boldest of the gangsters retorted. "We'll put them down once we're safely out the gate. You let us go, or these kids get cut!"

"You absolute _morons_ ," Saitou kept his voice impressively level. "Consider your situation. Two dozen of your comrades here have been defeated, another dozen captured. You have no chance of escape whatsoever. Do as I say, and live."

The men glanced at each other. "Hey, maybe we should..." one nervous man suggested.

"No way _one cop_ can stop all of us," muttered another.

"Did one cop take out all of _them_ by himself?" hissed a third.

The pile of wounded men was making a lot of unnerving noises, whimpering, gurgling.

"It wasn't that cop at all," insisted the bold one. "It must have been that little red-haired guy. That's why this is the perfect getaway plan—I heard it from my buddy in the sword-corps that that dude won't even draw his sword when there's kids around. And that skinny old cop is bluffing—let's go!"

The nervous man looked at the corpses slumped against the wall. "I don't think he's bluffing..." he commented.

At that moment, led by Yahiko, Kaoru and Kenshin peeked their heads around the corner of the building directly behind the hostage-takers.

Kaoru took a breath, and her right hand found the hilt of the sheathed katana at her side.

But Kenshin's hand closed firmly around hers, holding it in place.

His eyes said no, and hers blazed in reply.

"You still don't understand," she said to him. "Swords that give death, or swords that give life. Satsujinken or Katsujinken. You have to choose which to believe in."

 _Killing is your truth_ , Hiko had told him.

 _Katsujinken is a sweet, naive lie,_ Kenshin had said.

"If you want _katsujinken_ to become true...believe in it!" Kaoru wasn't going to wait another second. Her hand tightened on the katana's hilt and she bolted forward, tearing herself away from Kenshin, throwing herself at the last standing members of the Shuei yakuza.

Her sword darted between the first man's elbow and his body, slicing deep into the forearm that clutched a blade to his hostage's neck. The kid dropped free, unharmed. The next man didn't have time to be startled before he too was disarmed. Kenshin was less than half a second behind her, sakabatou prying weapons and hostages out of the gangsters' hands with equal speed and precision.

And it was over in an instant. Seven kids clung to each other in shock, and seven gangsters sprawled on the ground, defeated. Two of them had been deprived of their thumbs. Two others had been knocked unconscious by the thwack of the sakabatou across the back of their skulls. The ones that could still crawl began heading for the heap of their wounded comrades.

"Good work," Saitou called nonchalantly from across the yard. "That's probably all of them."

Catching their breath, Kaoru and Kenshin looked at each other.

"Now—I'll explain," Kaoru said, her voice softening. "For a whole year, it's been right in front of us. The purpose of Kamiya _Katsu-Shin_ ryu: bringing the heart back to life, restoring the soul...with swords that live instead of swords that kill. _Who is it for?_ You know the story already—after the Bakumatsu, my father realized something was needed to restore the hearts that had been tarnished by _satsujinken._ "

She looked at the sword held in her hand, and without a word, she pulled the saya from her belt and put the sword away, holding it in front of her.

"This whole time," Kaoru continued. "I've been using Kamiya Kasshin-ryu, but it was never meant for me. Because I never killed anyone, there was no darkness in my heart for kasshin-ryu to brighten; no sickness in my soul for it to heal. Being a person who had never stained my hands, and using kasshin ryu... I've been taking the antidote for a poison that was never even _in me_ to begin with. But then, tonight..."

Her eyes filled with tears.

"He didn't mean to do it, but when Battousai got into my head, there was a window left open between our souls. I wanted to beat him, the same as you did, and I was going to try anything I could. So without him even realizing that I was doing it...I found that window, and _I looked in_. And for a moment, I felt what it was like _to kill_. I felt how it makes your own heart feel dead inside. But the connection went both ways, meaning that as I tasted the sickness of killing, Battousai, at the same time, tasted the cure."

She handed the sheathed katana to Kenshin, straightened up and took a breath. "And so we agreed," she concluded. "To cooperate. To come here and finish this. And if you'd been paying attention," she sniffled, smiled, and raised her hand to indicate the pile of defeated villains. "Kenshin, you idiot...you would have realized, none of this was _hiten mitsurugi_. I borrowed the speed, and, ah-also the battoujutsu-" she blushed and looked a little guilty, as if she had enjoyed that part a bit too much- "but I did all of this with Kasshin-ryu. To prove that _katsujinken_ can be the truth."

She stepped forward, took another deep breath, closing her eyes and concentrating on what she knew she had to do next.

"And so now we know who Kamiya _Katsu-Shin_ is for," she said, when she was ready. "The _shin_ that needs to be restored... is yours."

Her hands came up towards her collarbones, and she pulled something forward from her chest as she herself flinched back. She ducked slightly, and a halo of red became half-visible above her head. If a person could pull their own skeleton out of their body, while simultaneously pulling a cloak off their shoulders, well, Kaoru made a motion something like that. It worked—Battousai's ghost was left standing between them as Kaoru took a half-step back. And then she pushed that ghost right back into Kenshin until her forearms rested on his chest.

His breath caught as he felt the change in his heart, the sting of a wound being cleaned out. Sensing the pain of it, Kaoru folded her hands over his heart, felt it beat under her palms. "Kenshin," she said, looking up at his face. "Forgive yourself...and be whole."

* * *

to be continued!

A/N: this chapter almost killed me. As most of you probably know, "kasshin" is how you say it; "katsu-shin" is the kanji, meaning "alive heart". And now... I'm off to the beach! Woo! one-week vacation. There's one or two chapters of this story left... thank you all so much for all the support! (especially you, sueb262!) See you next week!


	15. Chapter 15: the lesson begins

_A/N: This chapter picks up right where the last one left off..._

* * *

Chapter 15: the lesson begins

* * *

It was, of course, easier said than done.

But Kenshin knew something was different. For one thing, Battousai was no longer missing—he was back where he belonged, but different than before. Before, Kenshin had always been able to sense the presence of the hitokiri within him, repressed, and separate from himself. But now...

The rain had been poured into the river, and they could never be separated again.

Kaoru-dono had done this, had caused this fundamental change. She'd put a belief into his heart—into Battousai's heart—and it was spreading to _all_ of him, dawning in his consciousness as irreversibly as the process of waking from a dream.

And he was finally able to recognize the philosophy that Kaoru-dono had offered him from the very beginning, not as innocent play-talk, but as a killer's redemption.

It would take a little getting used to.

"Heee," Yahiko grinned, and folded his hands behind his head, elbows high in the air. "I can't believe it, Kenshin! She really did it—she stuffed your soul back into you, just like she said she would, remember? _Ha!_ I guess we can call her... let's see... ghost-hunter Kaoru... I got it! Kamiya _Reiryusai_ : _rei_ for ghost and _ryu_ for hunter—hah! So cool!"

Behind Yahiko, the kids were starting to come around a little bit, realizing there were no more immediate threats to their lives. Several of them seemed to pick up on what Yahiko was saying. "Reiryusai," one of them repeated in a fragile, awed voice.

Another kid wiped his nose on his sleeve and smiled. " _So cool_ ," he echoed.

Over in the pile of moaning casualties, a couple of ears perked up as well. "What'd that kid say?" one man asked urgently. " _Reiryusai!?_ What's that?"

"It's that thing that cut off our thumbs," another man answered, voice seething with terror. "Some kind of demon!"

"Hoh," Saitou chuckled. "And so another legend is born." He stepped over the pile of stricken gangsters and approached Kaoru, smirking. "Congratulations, girl," he said as he neared her.

Kaoru looked up at him curiously. "Congratulations?" she repeated, puzzled.

"For mastering your sword-style, of course," Saitou replied coolly. "It seems to me that Kamiya Kasshin-ryu has a new _shihan._ "

"Shihan?" Kaoru blinked, and blinked again. "You mean... _me_?"

"I know the work of a kenjutsu master when I see it," Saitou informed her. "After all, what was the Shinsengumi if not the finest collection of master swordsmen? As someone who served as a kenjutsu instructor for a team of masters from many different schools, I'm thoroughly qualified to identify when a certain rank has been earned."

Kaoru blushed, hunching her shoulders slightly in embarrassment. "Thank you, but, ehm, wasn't it obvious... I had a lot of help?"

"I heard you say you ' _borrowed the speed_ '," Saitou narrowed his eyes at her. "But mastery requires far more than speed, girl. Mastery is about realization. It's about essence, about philosophy, and it can't be taught: the student must _realize_ for themselves the truth of their art, in order to master it. And that's exactly what you've done."

"That is awesome!" Yahiko commented, and raised his fist in the air in victory. "Good job, Kaoru! Congrats!"

The other kids were taking their cue from Yahiko; now that he was clearly in a celebratory mood, a few of them began to mimic him. "Good job!" one little girl echoed. "Congrats! Yay!"

Kaoru smiled at them, glowing.

"And as for _you_ ," Saitou went on, locking Kenshin in the cross-hairs of his wolfish stare, "I know you witnessed the same undeniable level of mastery here that I did, but there's something else you need to notice. This girl," Saitou pointed at Kaoru with the flat of his hand. "She's matured. She's become the _Kamiya Kasshin-ryu no shihan,_ and, she's become an adult. Don't you agree?"

Kenshin looked. Her face and arms were still flecked with blood. And her eyes, which had always sparkled so brilliantly, now shone with light from a new depth of compassion, somehow even fiercer, and... yes, wiser.

" _Ahem._ " Saitou had grown impatient. "You're going to need to remember how to _speak_ at some point. I asked you a question. This girl is now quite grown-up, is she not?"

" _h_ -" Kenshin stumbled over the sounds of words. "-Yes, that she is," he managed.

"Good," Saitou declared. "Therefore, you will marry her."

Kenshin blinked, and bowed his head. "If Kaoru-dono will accept-"

"oh, _I will,_ " she affirmed.

"Excellent." Saitou smirked. "Glad we got that cleared up. Now: I have a very long day ahead of me, processing all of this mess. Himura: I need you to run and get a doctor. While I personally feel it will be a waste of good _thread_ , some of these morons will need to be stitched up soon if we are to keep them from dying and tarnishing the reputation of this newly-minted master. The legendary 'Kamiya Reiryusai' herself will stay here with the children and help me keep an eye on things until the police arrive." He looked sharply at Yahiko. "Leaving you, boy, with the task of going to get Commissioner Kawaji and ten or twelve officers. Understand?"

Kaoru, Kenshin and Yahiko all nodded in unison. Not knowing what else to do with Battousai's katana, Kenshin tucked it through his belt next to the sakabatou, evoking the old-fashioned two-sworded samurai look that had been fairly common, not that long ago.

He and Yahiko headed for the gate.

* * *

Kenshin made it back to the clinic in record time, and was relieved to find Sano and Megumi still working on just their first cup of sake, sitting comfortably together on the steps where Kenshin had left them an hour or so earlier.

" _Two dozen injured?_ " Megumi repeated, as Kenshin explained the emergency. "I'll need Dr. Gensai for this."

"I know where he is," Sano volunteered. "At his daughter's house in Asakusa. Saw him there earlier today. Want me to go and get him?"

"I hate to leave those two children here alone," Megumi muttered, worried. "Someone should stay here with them. Let me get my kit." She hurried into the house.

Sano glanced over at Kenshin. "So... I see you got Battousai's sword away from him," he remarked. "What happened? It must've been a crazy fight."

Kenshin thought back over the events of the last hour. "Craziest of my life, I think," he reported. "Everything is different now. Kaoru-dono and I, we,"

He stopped, the reality of _marrying Kaoru_ finally breaching the horizon of his mind. The thought of the happiness that would bring him. Peace and happiness. He would have that, with Kaoru. It had occurred to him before, as a vague and distant notion, but had always seemed far away and unapproachable. Now it was real, it was actually going to happen.

"Jou-chan and you...?" Sanosuke prompted.

Kenshin couldn't help it. He smiled. In spite of the chaos, in spite of the violence and bloodshed and all the critically wounded people whose lives still hung in the balance, in spite of the work that still had to be done, and the never-ending evil of human beings in the world— "...we got engaged," Kenshin said.

There was a heartbeat's worth of silence, and then Sano let out a whoop, and practically tackled Kenshin in celebration, shaking him by the shoulders. "HA!" Sano laughed, "You really did? Oh man, it's about time! Good for you, Kenshin-good for both of you! Congratulations!"

Megumi reappeared, her sleeves tied back, tucking her hair up into a kerchief. "For heaven's sake Sanosuke, what's all this racket? I swear you are worse than a dozen monkeys."

" _They got engaged!_ " Sano exclaimed, trapping Kenshin in a headlock so he could scrub his knuckles on the top of that red-haired head.

"Oh my goodness, congratulations!" Megumi said, a completely unguarded smile lighting up her face.

"I want to hear how it happened, every detail—after I stitch up those miserable gangsters." Wasting not a second, she picked up her kit, and hurried towards the street. "Sano, go fetch Dr. Gensai as quick as you can, and have him meet me at the Shuei-gumi's place. Ken-san, do you mind staying here, with our young patients?"

Kenshin nodded, and Sano let him go with a final playful punch to the arm. "We'll party it up later," he promised, heading out. "Kenshin—I can't believe you're finally getting married! You're a lucky man!"

The world seemed to slow.

Megumi and Sanosuke were gone, hurrying down the darkened street, but Sano's words lingered.

 _You're finally getting married! You're a lucky man!_

Somewhere, Kenshin had heard those words before. He started to get a strange, sinking feeling. As he turned and took a step,

 _knch._

He'd stepped on something, something small and soft. He looked down, and lifted his foot to see what it had been.

Crushed under his foot was a camellia flower.

 _A camellia_ —where had that come from? There was just enough moonlight to discern its color; brightly magenta, with its golden crown in the center. Ruined now, flattened. _Where...?_

 _You're finally getting married! You're a lucky man!_

The world inverted, and Kenshin no longer knew where he was. He was standing in the yard of the Oguni clinic, but everything was gray somehow, frozen. Nothing seemed real.

"Hi," said a voice, and a shadow stepped forward out of the surreal setting.

Kenshin recognized him instantly. Although he'd only seen him once before, and only for a few moments, Kenshin knew exactly who this was.

This was, unmistakably, the ghost of Kiyosato Akira.

Kenshin was frozen in place.

"Sorry about all this," Akira's ghost was saying, gesturing around at the impermeable gray. "And the camellia—the spirit world is quite fond of the 'language of flowers', you know, so believe it or not, that wasn't even up to me. It's a bit dramatic, I know."

 _Am I dead?_ Kenshin wondered abruptly. _No. I can't be dead_.

"Please don't worry," said the ghost, quite plainly able to hear Kenshin's thoughts. "You're not dead. And I won't hurt you."

Considering his circumstances, apparently trapped in a ghost world and confronted by this particular ghost, Kenshin was hardly reassured.

"I'm going to take that sword, if you don't mind," Akira said amicably, and held out his hand. Kenshin was still frozen, both swords at his side.

"Can you move?" Akira asked him after a minute. "No? Well, this might be a little awkward, but, all the same, that sword doesn't belong in the world of the living, so... I'm taking it." The ghost reached out and selected the katana. "This is the one?"

 _That's the one,_ Kenshin confirmed, that being the only cogent thought in his mind. _The sword I killed you with._

"Excuse me," Akira said, offering the most perfunctory tidbit of courtesy before pulling the katana away from Kenshin, saya and all.

It was the strangest feeling—no one had ever taken a sword from his side like that. It was a little like being undressed.

In spite of having been recently incorporeal; a spirit that could walk through walls and overlap a physical body and even _overtake_ a physical body—in spite of how strange all of that had felt, the feeling of having his sword taken away from him was even stranger.

"I know this is uncomfortable for you," the ghost was saying, his words and tone soft and well-mannered. "But I suppose it will be alright. It was a little difficult to get you here, actually. The rules of all this 'ghost' business aren't exactly written in stone, as you know. It's more like they're written in _smoke_ , and change as often as the clouds. In any case, I'll make this as quick as I can."

 _Thank you,_ Kenshin thought, feeling numb. _For it to be 'quick' will be more mercy than I deserve._

Kiyosato Akira's ghost gave him a pitying look, and shook his head. "Surely you don't think this is about revenge? We are way beyond revenge, Himura-san. First of all, I wanted to congratulate you for enduring all the trouble I've caused over the past few days."

Kenshin could barely believe what he was hearing. _You caused all this?_

"More or less," the ghost admitted. "To be honest, I thought it would be a little easier to grant my mother's wish; to lift the grudge that has anchored your wounds all this time. The first cut, mine, that would have been easy to fix on its own—that was just my mother, deciding to forgive you. But the second cut holds the first in place. That second cut was the problem—because it was never Tomoe. You know she never blamed you, after she died. You blamed yourself; your own grudge against yourself is what kept you from healing. So having my mother forgive you wouldn't have been enough."

Kiyosato Akira smiled. "About my mother, by the way, she loves children. And she could use some help, with that field of potatoes. There's an orchard, too. Persimmons and things. Far too much for her to manage on her own, now that my little sister is married and out of the house...Just a suggestion, you know."

An image came to Kenshin's mind, a small group of children, gathered around Kiyosato's mother, filling that mostly-empty house with sound and light. _Thank you_ , Kenshin thought again, humbled by the revelation that the ghost of this murdered man would care enough to speak up on behalf of those recently rescued kids.

The ghost gave a kindly shrug. "You were going to think of it eventually anyway. Now, our time is short, and there's one more thing I brought you here to do. Do you remember the last thing you said to me, that night?"

Kenshin thought back to ' _that night'_ , the details sharp and bloody.

Akira winced. "That _is_ a bad one, isn't it? That memory; of me. Sorry about that."

If the world hadn't already been frozen in place, Kenshin was pretty sure he would have felt it slipping out from under his feet just then. The ghost of Kiyosato Akira, for some unfathomable reason, was apologizing. To _him_.

 _You have nothing to say 'sorry' about_ , Kenshin thought emphatically.

"All the same, you should remember me less often, from now on. That is part of the goal of all this, after all. So. Do you remember what you said?"

 _I said, 'give up',_ Kenshin recalled, the memory as heavy as stone. He'd said that to a lot of people back then; they had often complied, making his job that much easier.

"No no, after that part," Kiyosato reminded him. "You said to me, _please achieve happiness in your next life_." The ghost stopped, letting the memory materialize around the words, a gentle smile settling on his face. "You left that wish for me, and I am here now, to return it back to you. This is the final part, of ending the pain that has linked us. Himura-san, _please achieve happiness in your next life_. And by that I mean, of course, in your 'next life' starting right now: in your new life with Kamiya Kaoru."

The ghost scrunched up his eyes, smiling, and left no chance for Kenshin to reply. The world flipped again, moonlight and motion returned, and Kenshin was back in the world of the living. The camellia bloom had vanished.

And there was only one sword at his side, the sakabatou.

Some great circle was finally complete; the wish he'd left behind on a dead man's back in Kyoto fifteen years earlier had returned, unexpectedly, to his own life.

And it would come true...

* * *

The following morning, there was the necessary visit to Minister Ito's office. Saitou tagged along as backup, assuming a menacing position in the back of the room, ready to glare in cross-armed disgust at anyone who might debase themselves enough to imply that Himura's request was in any way unreasonable.

Minister Ito, for his part, was secretly pleased at Saitou's presence. Though he would never admit it openly, Ito was relieved to have Saitou's old-fashioned moral compass in the room, as a sort of a north star of Bushido if nothing else. The continued existence of Himura Kenshin would always make Ito slightly nervous, if he was being honest with himself—but with Saitou obviously vouching for the former hitokiri, Ito could be comfortable being generous.

"As I read these reports," Ito began, shuffling through a stack of papers on his desk, "I notice that the Shuei yakuza recently stepped into a new business endeavor. It seems the corpse of a certain arms-dealing organization from Shanghai has attracted quite a few greedy flies." He re-stacked the papers, folded his hands on top of them, and studied his visitor. "As you, Himura-san, so helpfully toppled that black market weapons business, and have now been equally helpful in eliminating some of the 'flies', the Meiji government is once again indebted to you. Please, name your request."

"Nine children," Kenshin said.

Minister Ito completely failed to hide his surprise. "You want _nine children?_ What on earth will you do with nine children?"

"I'll find them a place to live," Kenshin continued, not missing a beat. "But they'll need to be cared for; clothing, food, whatever they need—and perhaps a teacher, or a nurse, or..." he hesitated briefly, trying to recall the right word—what did European people call it? "A governess," he remembered. "Yes, a governess, with a salary, who will look after them and provide for their education."

At a loss, Ito looked down at his stack of papers. Of course, there it was, a statement towards the end about the nine rescued children: two currently at the Oguni clinic, the other seven collected from the compound and temporarily in police custody.

"You want me to hire a governess to educate the orphans of the Shuei yakuza," Ito repeated, incredulous.

Kenshin nodded. "Yes, I do."

Ito slid a glance at Saitou, who pounced at it.

"Additionally," the old wolf mentioned, voice oozing in cool amusement, "the government should pay for these children to have a weekly kendo lesson. At a local dojo. If they have any aptitude for it, it will be healthy for them. Discipline, exercise...yes. They'll need that too."

"Naturally," Ito agreed, beginning to recover a little from the shock of being asked for something so humble. "Is there anything else?"

Saitou narrowed his eyes, and approached the desk. "My wife is starting up a sort of a war memorial... if you would _melt down_ all the firearms you confiscated from Yukishiro Enishi's Shanghai organization, as well as what you've salvaged from the wreck of Shishio's ironclad, you could make a nice statue to honor those who gave their lives for the new era."

"Ah," Ito's eyes glittered at the return to more familiar territory. Himura was the sort of man who had just asked the government for a cup of tea, to drink it and leave. Saitou, on the other hand, was more accustomed to the game, and was asking for the keys to all the tea factories. "What a splendid idea," Ito praised. "I am deeply moved. The government sincerely thanks you for your patriotic suggestion."

Saitou chuckled. "I'll expect my transfer orders soon, then?"

"You might," Ito stated, giving nothing away.

Kenshin took a breath, interrupting. "Do we have a deal, Ito-san?"

Saitou shot him a look that conveyed just how much he wanted to jerk Kenshin back by the collar and toss him out of the room, but Ito circumvented him.

"We will generously meet the needs of nine children, to include the salary of a governess and the cost of kendo lessons," Ito said benevolently. "So yes, we have a deal." He extended his hand across the desk.

Kenshin took the offered hand, and shook it.

* * *

Later, it was time to revisit the Kiyosato residence, to follow through on Kenshin's promise to find the children a place to live. Kaoru accompanied him, wearing her yellow kimono, a bright indigo ribbon fluttering around her ponytail.

"I'm a little nervous," she confided to him, fidgeting with her hands as they stood in front of the old house. "It's sort of like I'm meeting your family, isn't it?"

Kenshin didn't have time to reply before the door slid back, answered by a tired-looking young woman with a newborn infant sleeping in her arms. "Hello?" she asked. "Are you here to see my mother?"

"Yes," Kenshin answered, and smiled as he recognized who she looked like. "You must be Kiyosato Akira-dono's younger sister."

"Yes, I'm Chidori. You...knew my brother?" she asked, looking puzzled.

"Invite them in!" came a cheerful voice from inside the house.

As Kaoru and Kenshin left their shoes, Kiyosato's mother appeared, in the same brown kimono but this time with an apron over it, and her sleeves tied back. A certain expression on her face seemed to indicate how conscious she was that this was not the way she would have ever greeted guests in the old days, but it was the Meiji jidai now—and as she was determined to adapt, she would wear her apron without shame. "It is nice to see you again. 'Kenshin', wasn't it?"

"Yes, and nice to see you again as well," Kenshin replied.

"Is this lovely girl your wife?" she wondered aloud, since it seemed a safe assumption.

Kaoru blushed spectacularly. "Fiancee," she corrected. "I'm Kamiya Kaoru."

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Kiyosato Takako. And you met my daughter, Chidori."

Chidori nodded her head politely, cradling her baby.

They settled in to talk as though they were old neighbors. Kiyosato Takako had heard of Kaoru's father, but had never met him. Chidori, it turned out, had heard of a teenage girl running a dojo all by herself in Tokyo, and had thought that girl was marvelously brave; an inspiration. Kaoru then got a chance to hold the tiny infant for a moment, her eyes trembling with delight at his pink little hands and chubby little face.

And Chidori, seeming to have inherited some of the iron of her mother, wasn't disturbed at all to find out she was sitting next to the man who had taken her brother's life. Indeed, she expressed only relief that there was no more dark curse of an unsolved murder in her family history. She had been young when Akira had died, and she was pleased to have closure and resolution at last.

The conversation darkened for a moment on the subject of Yukishiro Enishi; both Takako and Chidori had known him quite well, and when he was small they had thought he would grow up as Chidori's dearest friend, as Akira had grown up with Tomoe. They were saddened to learn that Enishi had ended up on the streets of Shanghai, and what had become of him more recently.

"You say there is hope for him, as he is still alive," Kiyosato Takako remarked. "But to think of him as a little child, all alone—those are the stories that break my heart the most. The children who end up adrift, whose lives are forfeited before they have any chance to choose anything for themselves. I would do anything to save even one of them."

Kenshin held his breath and listened, and realized he was anticipating the _chi-riing_ of a wind-chime. And sure enough, faintly, he heard it. The confirmation that this moment was especially important, that forces in the spirit-world were paying attention, and gently prompting action.

If it had been anyone else claiming they 'would do anything', Kenshin would have dismissed it. But from this woman, who had forgiven the worst brutality of the strongest hitokiri—Kenshin knew he could take this woman at her word.

And so he came right out and asked her if she could give nine stray children a home. Her hand flew up to cover her mouth in surprise, as she had certainly never imagined doing any such thing, but the light of possibility was kindled in her eyes, and as she listened to the details of the deal that Kenshin had arranged, that light grew brighter until it shone forth as certainty.

Chidori laughed as her mother boldly accepted the challenge of raising nine orphans, not the least bit concerned for her mother's ability to handle it. Chidori decided she would help to hire the governess; she had a few well-educated friends, as it turned out, who might be looking for just that sort of employment.

Like magic, it was coming together. The feeling that it would work out, that many wrongs would be set right, that the future would be better than the present—Kenshin felt that hope rising in his heart, and thought he caught out of the corner of his eye the image of two figures standing hand-in-hand in front of the ink-painting of the crane. When he turned and looked, of course, they weren't really there. But he knew it was them, and he sensed what they were projecting his way:

 _You've done well._

"Good job, Kenshin," Kaoru-dono must have caught their message also, because she said it out loud, beaming at him. Before she could lose herself in his eyes, she looked away. "This is all thanks to you, Takako-san," Kaoru said. "You're a truly selfless and generous person, to take on this mission in the memory of your son."

Kiyosato Takako blinked in surprise, and then she gave a brief laugh, and clasped Kaoru's hand. "Memory of my-? Oh, no, my dear, that isn't it!" she smiled at Kaoru kindly, patting her hand. "I'll always love him, but, this won't be for my son's sake at all. Rather, it's for my grandson."

They all looked at the baby, obliviously asleep in his mother's arms. "I will work tirelessly to help those children, to make my grandson's world a better place."

 _Not for my son, but for my grandson?_ Kenshin could hardly believe it. It was too perfect, it fit too well. "Kaoru-dono," he said, dipping his head forward. "Did I ever tell you about the poem, engraved on this sword, the sakabatou shinuchi?"

"There's a poem?" Kaoru asked, curious. "What does it say?"

"The same as Takako-dono just said: 'not for my son, but for my grandson'. The father of this sword, Arai Shakku-dono, inscribed that same conviction on this, his final blade."

Chidori was impressed. "That makes it sound even more like you were fated to come here," she said. "And if fate is as strong as that, it makes me wonder if we have any choice in life at all!"

"Oh, there is plenty of choice," Takako reassured her daughter. "Fate may play a role, but the most important things, I think we always choose for ourselves." She looked up at Kenshin. "Don't you agree?"

 _The most important..._

Kenshin looked at Kaoru, and saw in her eyes that she already knew that he had chosen.

 _Her._

* * *

Days went by. Eight of the children moved into their new home, while the last little girl remained at the clinic, recovering. Sano and Megumi came over for dinner; Kenshin cooked. Kaoru went to teach lessons, and came home happy, looking forward to a bath. Sano dragged Kenshin out to celebrate his upcoming wedding, and returned home having somehow managed to 'win' an entire swordfish from somewhere, although when Kaoru questioned exactly _how_ they had won it, Kenshin was unable to say. (Judging by the state they were in, however, Kaoru was able to discern that it had something to do with alcohol, and also with jumping in the river.)

The resulting feast included pretty much everyone they knew in Tokyo, including Saitou, his wife, and the boy Eiji, who was very glum about the fact that Yahiko (who was only one year older than him) had gotten to witness the final take-down of the Shuei yakuza. Sometime during the dinner, Saitou mentioned that he didn't have time to train Eiji in any sort of sword-arts himself, and requested that the boy be enrolled at the Kamiya dojo as a student.

Towards the end of the party, discussion turned towards the future of the little girl who had very nearly been eviscerated. Saitou and his wife confirmed that they would be willing to take her in, but Gensai-sensei related that she had become such close friends with his granddaughters that he was considering adopting the girl himself. Dr. Gensai went on to say that she was such a clever and creative child, who often talked about an imaginary friend of hers who could 'change colors'.

Kenshin resolved to visit her.

The following day, Kaoru took off on a mysterious shopping mission with Tae-san, something to do with the wedding, and Kenshin headed for the Oguni clinic.

Two of his favorite little voices greeted him as he stepped through the gate.

" _Ken-niiii!_ "

" _Ken-nii! Ken-niichan!_ "

"Ah, it's Ayame-chan and Suzume-chan, isn't it?" Kenshin greeted them, as they bounded forward and tackled his knees.

" _Yaa! Let's play let's play let's play!_ "

"We have a new sister! Her name is Rie! She's five years old!"

"And I'm four! And she's not really our sister!"

"But, we love her! And we play with her!"

"She got stabbed with a sword!"

"It was very bad—she got stitches in her skin!"

"But Grandpa says she is doing okay!"

"I'm happy to hear that," Kenshin said, managing to get a few words in edgewise around their excited chatter.

"Ken-nii, did you ever stab anybody with a sword?" this startling question came from Ayame, the elder sister, just six years old.

Kenshin looked down at her big brown eyes, brimming with curiosity, and knew there would be another day, another time, hopefully still a few years away, when it would be right to explain. But for now, he patted the top of her head, and then touched the hilt of the sakabatou.

"I have never stabbed anyone with this sword," he promised her. "And I never will."

"Good!" Ayame smiled, her concern forgotten. "You have to meet Rie!"

"Ya! Riii-e, Riiii-e! Let's go see her!"

Suzume grabbed his right hand, and Ayame grabbed his left, and they pulled Kenshin up the steps and into the house, sandals scattering every which way in their excitement.

Little Rie was sitting up in bed, looking healthier than Kenshin had dared to hope. Her eyes lit up when she saw him. "It's you!" she exclaimed. "Doctor said you were a-maginary."

"He's not a 'maginary', he's Ken-nii," explained Ayame-chan. "He's not _really_ our brother, but, he's very nice."

"oh, I know that," Rie said with a little roll of her eyes. "He gave me that spinning top."

"That thing?" Suzume asked. "Wow! I like that thing. It spins good."

"And _I_ know how to roll up the string on it," Ayame stated, with importance. "Let's find it and play with it!"

Kenshin smiled at little Rie as Dr. Gensai's granddaughters began searching the room for the top. "How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"Good," she recited, as if she thought that were the expected answer. Then a guilty sort of look crossed her face. "My... my mom is dead," she revealed abruptly.

Kenshin considered that. "So is mine," he answered.

Rie stared at him, processing this new insight into the ways of the world. The idea that an adult could have a 'mom' was a new one for her.

"Do you miss her?" Kenshin asked.

Rie nodded, her chin moving up and down. "I miss her, and my stomach hurts."

"It will be all right," Kenshin told her. "Your mom is happy that you are safe."

"She is?" Rie sniffled.

Kenshin nodded. "Absolutely, yes, she is."

"Found it, found it!" Suzume exclaimed, and seconds later, the top was bouncing along the floor in a wobbly spin. "It's going! Woooow!"

All three girls were fascinated, and fell to discussing whose turn was next.

They would grow up, these little girls, in the new era... and Kenshin would do all he could to protect them. He felt certain that wherever little Rie ended up, whether with Saitou's family or under the auspicious wings of that painted crane, or even right here, perhaps as an apprentice for Megumi-dono... wherever she went, she would be all right.

* * *

And so more days passed, and then a few weeks, and the guests arrived from Kyoto, and Kenshin and Kaoru finally got married. The ensuing party was even better than the swordfish ordeal. There were many happy tears that day; even Sano had to dry his eyes, and Hiko too—although he insisted that was only because that hyperactive 'Misao' creature had jostled his elbow and made him splash his sake _directly_ onto his eyeballs, _really_ , that was what had happened.

Happiness settled on the Kamiya dojo exactly as it had been waiting ages to do.

Finally, after everything, after the Bakumatsu, and wandering, and Jin-e, after Shishio, after Enishi, after the ghost of the hitokiri Battousai—finally, peace.

Finally, love.

It was better than anything else, and it seemed they both awoke each day even more thankful for each other than they had felt the day before.

There was one time in the middle of the night that Kaoru found herself not quite awake, and not quite asleep, but drifting in between. She was used to Kenshin now, beside her, where she'd always sort of known that he belonged. But in this particular semi-dream, she sensed some other presence near her, familiar, small. She looked and saw the ghost of the white cat padding towards her, its fur glowing ever-so-faintly in the dark of the room. She reached out her hand towards the apparition, and her old pet arched its neck to rub its head against her palm. Kaoru rubbed behind its ears and under its chin, and then ran her hand once down its spine. She could have sworn the cat smiled at her, and then it began to fade out of sight, its rumbling purr just barely audible until it vanished. "Goodbye," Kaoru whispered, and woke up in the full light of morning.

It had only been a dream, she decided. A good dream, and she sensed it was the last time she would have anything to do with any sort of ghost.

Then there was a day when Kenshin woke up early, a little bit startled, still _not_ completely used to Kaoru's presence next to him, but getting there. This would be the day, he realized. It was time. He had reached the end of one long span of thought, and was finally going to act on an idea that had been slowly assembling itself in his mind ever since Kaoru planted the seed of it.

Kaoru woke up a little bit later. The kids weren't coming for practice that day and Yahiko was helping out at the Akabeko, so, she would have the dojo to herself this morning. She got dressed in her training gear, tied a white headband around her head, ready to work up a good sweat.

The rising sun was at the perfect angle, flooding the training hall with gold.

"Kenshin?" Kaoru asked, surprised to find him waiting for her there. "What are you doing?"

He was sitting formally in seiza, wearing the white gi and pale gray hakama of the dojo's training uniforms. There were still ten or fifteen of those in storage somewhere; obviously he'd found one.

She squinted a bit at his face; maybe it was the light, but did that scar on his cheek look... _less there_? The idea that that scar might have started to heal occurred to her; but it was too soon to comment on it. She'd keep an eye on it, she decided. Maybe in a year or two, if it was really fading, she would mention it.

"I have something to ask of you," Kenshin told her. "I've sworn to protect the new era, and the people around me, to the best of my ability. And I think my ability can be improved by learning something new. Since the first day I met you, I've benefited from exposure to Kamiya Kasshin-ryu. I've absorbed it, the energy of it, just by being around you. But it isn't good enough, just to be an observer—instead, I need to actively pursue it. I need to seek it, wholeheartedly. And so..." he bowed forward, as students always do at the start of a lesson, and peeked up at her from under his bangs. "Will you please teach this one...Kamiya Kasshin-ryu?"

Kaoru blinked at him, a dozen responses flitting like happy butterflies in her mind.

 _Of course, you idiot, of course I will,_ seemed to float towards the top. She shook her head a little. _So, you want Kamiya Kasshin-ryu, do you? Oh, you will GET Kamiya Kasshin-ryu!_ , another part of her wanted to promise him, a little too eagerly. _Ah, this is going to be fun_ , she thought to herself. _Kenshin, thank you, for realizing this is how it's supposed to be. I love you._

But she didn't say any of that out loud, and instead knelt in seiza, and bowed formally back to him. "Yes, I'll teach you," she said, smiling. She met his eyes.

"Kenshin...

 _Let's begin_."

* * *

A/N: there you have it, the end. Thank you all for reading! Some notes: Saitou's real-life wife really did start up a war memorial or something. And I liked Minister Ito a lot in "The Legend Ends". You know that fancy dinner scene, on the beach with Shishio? ugh, so awesome. Did you catch Yumi's black kimono in that scene? Yumi was delicious in those movies, her wardrobe, _hnnng._ Incredible, those movies.

Oh! If anyone has read another story, where Kiyosato Akira's ghost confronts Kenshin, and specifically says he's sorry about the camellias or something-WHERE IS THAT FIC? I looked for it forever, because I was so certain that I had read it before. I couldn't find it, so maybe I did dredge that scene out of own imagination and nowhere else. But if you know of any other stories where Akira's ghost talks to Kenshin sort of like he did in the scene in this chapter, please let me know.

About Arai Shakku's poem: I never liked it, because it seemed to forebode that Kenshin's own son would hate him. I know, I know, Kenji "hates his dad" but come on, not _really_. There's no way he _really_ hates him. I mean, Shakku's son didn't _really_ hate his father, did he? No, I think not. Kenshin and Kenji are going to be just fine. Oh, and speaking of Kenshin and kids! ! ! Do yourselves a favor and re-watch that episode of the anime, "Himura dojo in Shimonoseki". (episode 77, I think?) It's in the terrible _third season_ , I know, but it's on Netflix, for goodness sakes. It is one of my favorite episodes of the whole series. It's completely adorable, and there's that one scene, with Kenshin haggling over the price of groceries, lol, and that other scene, where the fake Battousai is giving Kenshin a kendo lesson and tells him to straighten up and he just sort of awkwardly jerks up, oh my god, how did they get that so perfect?! ROFL! It makes me so happy. Please watch it. (I had a "deleted line" in this chapter where Yahiko wonders what to do with all the kids from the Shuei-gumi, and suggests sending them to the Himura dojo in Shimonoseki, which Kenshin gently vetoes by saying that he's pretty sure that guy already has all the kids he can handle, lol!)

Ok. Sorry for rambling. This story has been great fun to write. To those who enjoyed this story with me... _katajikenai._


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